out of, be

out of, be idiom
Be lacking, as in We're out of sugar and coffee. Shakespeare used this idiom in Henry V (3:7): “These English are ... out of beef.” [Late 1500s] Also see run out of.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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