sell out

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sell out (third-person singular simple present sells out, present participle selling out, simple past and past participle sold out)

1. To sell all of a product that is in stock.

   Synonym: run out

   They sold out of concert posters yesterday and won't get another shipment until next week.

   • 2021 March 24, Stefanie Foster, “Hidden London: Old Tube on YouTube”, in RAIL, number 927, page 41:

     By the end of July [2020], Brompton Road station was available as a virtual tour and tickets were selling out fast.

2. (intransitive) To abandon or betray one's supporters or principles to seek profit or other personal advantage.

   It used to be a pleasant little community, until the leaders sold out to the developers.

   • 2013, “Asshole”, in The Marshall Mathers LP 2, performed by Eminem:

     It's like tellin' Gwen Stefani she sold out / ‘Cause I was tryna leave no doubt

   • 2019 March 6, Soraya Roberts, “Reality Bites Captured Gen X With Perfect Irony”, in The Atlantic‎:

     […] Lelaina is also attempting to choose between two men who represent her divergent prospects: to sell out or not to sell out. That particular quandary was styled as a hallmark of Generation X, and Reality Bites was perhaps the most polished of a bunch of mainstream attempts to portray the ambivalent cohort.

   • 2023 July 19, Caspar Salmon, “Has Barbie killed the indie director? Why credible film-makers are selling out”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     But the recent writer and actor strikes in the US show that selling out is not just a question of personal ethics, but an industry-wide concern. A director’s decision to align themselves with these Goliaths of entertainment has consequences; makes money for the big guy, in opposition to fostering an industry where smaller films and creators have more opportunities.

3. (transitive) To betray (a person), usually a close friend or family member, for personal gain.

   I'll kill him if I see him again; he sold me out.

4. To sell one's business (with a connotative emphasis on entirety and finality).

   The owners long resisted buyout offers, but when they were ready to retire, they finally sold out to a competitor.

5. To sell one's commission.
   • 1857, Washington Irving, Life of George Washington, volume 2, page 267:

     After the peace of Versailles he resided in England; but, about three years before the breaking out of the Revolution, he sold out his commission in the army and emigrated to New York.

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