Dictionary

peter out en · VERB

Pronunciation

• pē′tər out′
• (Australia) audio
• /ˌpitɚ‿ˈaʊt/ (General-American)
• /ˌpiːtəɹ‿ˈaʊt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [-ɾɚ-] (General-American)

Etymology

From peter (“diminish to nothing”, intransitive verb) + out. First attested in the mid-1800s.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) Synonym of peter (“to diminish to nothing, (originally) to refer to a vein of ore”).
   • Soon, the overhead wires will reach here. My only hope is that common sense prevails, and that the overhead line equipment continues its march north rather than petering out, leaving a monument to short-term thinking and a lack of vision. 2020 November 18, Paul Bigland, “New Infrastructure and New Rolling Stock”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 49:
   • The remaining 25% of air that lies more than 10km above ground becomes ever more tenuous until it finally peters out some 150km above our heads. 2002, John Naylor, Out of the Blue: A 24-Hour Skywatcher's Guide, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 5:
   • The First Baptist Church is on a dead-end street in Spring Valley, N.Y., hard up against the railroad line that peters out a few blocks north. 2014 April 22, Josh Nathan-Kazis, “Is Hasidic Board To Blame for Gutting Public Schools in N.Y. Town?”, in The Forward, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2021:
   • But the luck had failed, the mines petered out; and the army of miners had departed, and left this quarter of the world to the rattlesnakes and deer and grizzlies, and to the slower but steadier advance of husbandry. 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, “With the Children of Israel. I. To Introduce Mr. Kelmar.”, in The Silverado Squatters, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, page 60:
   • What started as a great effort ended up petering out to nothing.
   • Seal the area off. Let them burn down the town, kill each other off, and it will peter out after a while. 1967, Riots, Civil and Criminal Disorders, page 3097, lines 31–32:
   • Q. Do you think, Doctor, that it is possible for that south strand to likewise peter out and disappear? 1832, Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court, page 808, lines 16–17:
   • I shall therefore suggest that the ongoing speaker deliberately allows her/his turn to peter out in the hope that someone else will take up the initiative. 1991, Richard J. Watts, Power in Family Discourse, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 129:

Forms

Synonyms

fade out · fade away · trail off · tail away · peter · gutter out · dwindle · spin down

Translations (35)

de verlaufen (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · de versanden (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · fr tarir (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · fi loppua (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · nl verdwijnen (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · hu enyészik (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · fi sammua (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · hu elenyészik (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · nl afsterven (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · pl zanikać (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · cs vytratit se (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · es debilitarse (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · de dahinschwinden (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · es disminuirse (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · es extinguirse (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · sh mànjkati (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · ru вы́дохнуться (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · es flaquear (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · de schwinden (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · ar غَارَ (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · de totlaufen (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · pl zamierać (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · nb ebbe ut (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · mk се све́де (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · ru выдыха́ться (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · pl zamrzeć (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · es flojear (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · pl zaniknąć (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · cs vymizet (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · de verschwinden (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · it ridùrsi (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · pt diminuir (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · fi huveta (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · it esaurirsi (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle) · sv sina (to diminish to nothing — see also dwindle)