spell out

spell out idiom
  1. Make plain, clarify, as in We asked her to spell out her objectives. [c. 1940]
  2. Read slowly and laboriously, as in He was only six but he managed to spell out the instructions. [Early 1800s]
  3. Puzzle out, manage to understand with some effort, as in It took years before anyone could spell out the inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone. [Late 1600s] All three usages transfer spell in the sense of “proceed letter by letter.”

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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