bow out

/ baʊ /

verb

1. adverb; usually troften foll byof to retire or withdraw gracefully

Idioms and Phrases

Depart, withdraw, resign, as in After five years as chairman, I felt it was time I bowed out , or We'll have to beat them; they'll never bow out . [First half of 1900s]

Example Sentences

True, she was only a second-string nominee, after Tom Daschle had to bow out because of those tax problems.

From The Daily Beast

And it seems unlikely that Berlusconi is ready to bow out, especially after such a miraculous comeback.

From The Daily Beast

Her close friend, Magdalena Rodriguez, was to have accompanied her on the trip but was forced to bow out for financial reasons.

From The Daily Beast

Given her advanced age and storied career, wouldn't the aftermath of the surgery have been a good time to gracefully bow out?

From The Daily Beast

The federal courts should just bow out, they say, of deciding things like gay marriage (and abortion rights).

From The Daily Beast

He used to shoot arrows with a bow out of the door of the house and hit a mark on a tree that was opposite him.

From Project Gutenberg

Edith leaned over the terrace wall, and took the double-bass bow out of the tall clump of sweet peas.

From Project Gutenberg

I took a bow out of a man's hand, and then an arrow, and fitted it to the string; he made signs that he shot birds with it.

From Project Gutenberg

And all this Inter-Solar man would do now was to bow out and try poaching elsewhere.

From Project Gutenberg

He pulled the violin and bow out of the old baize bag and fiddled as we walked.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bail out
• drop out
• pull out
• quit
• retire
• withdraw