blackout, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈblakaʊt/, U.S. /ˈblækˌaʊt/
Etymology: < to black out at black v. Phrasal verbs.
1. Theatre. The darkening of a stage, as between scenes, during a performance; a darkened stage. Also fig.
1913 G. B. Shaw Let. 3 Apr. (1956) 188 The more I think of that revolving business the less I see how it can be done... There will have to be a black-out.
1921 A. Blackwood Bright Messenger xxvii. 347 In the stage of his mind came a black-out upon a host of inhibitions.
1924 J. Galsworthy Forest iii. i, What do you think death really is?.. Change of trains, or a black-out, eh?
1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms iii. 20 Immediately after the murder there is a black-out; when the lights come on again the stage is empty.
1987 J. J. Steinfeld Our Hero in Cradle Confederation xiv. 76 During the blackout between the first and second acts Our Hero thinks about Alexandra.
2001 P. Marber Howard Katz p. xii, The action should occur continuously, without blackouts between scenes.
2.
a. Temporary loss of vision experienced when a person is subjected to strong accelerative forces, esp. during flying, attributed to decreased blood flow in the central retinal artery; an instance of this. Cf. red-out n. 1, re-entry blackout n. at re-entry n. Compounds 2.
1929 Pop. Mech. Dec. 883/1 If you turn very rapidly you may experience a ‘black-out’.
1940 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 14 Feb.–9 Apr. 217 The problems of future fighters of over 400 m.p.h. are: to defeat the pilot's ‘black-out’ [etc.].
1940 Times 30 Mar. 9/6 The actual black-out the Germans..call the ‘curtain’. There is no loss of consciousness..merely this ‘curtain’ of black before the eyes. And so soon as the turn is eased and the g brought down, sight returns.
1959 Daily Mail 2 Apr. 10/5 The man-carrying centrifuge at the Farnborough Institute of Aviation Medicine..tests pilots for ‘black-outs’.
2007 Globe & Mail(Toronto) (Nexis) 18 July t1 Specialists will test their ability to withstand G-force pressures, which can cause blackouts and even redouts, in which capillaries in the eyes burst.
b. A (usually temporary) loss of memory; an amnesic gap, esp. for events occurring during a period of alcohol intoxication. Also: a momentary or brief loss of consciousness, esp. when caused by reduced blood flow to the brain; a faint.
1934 Atlantic Mar. 350/1 ‘Black-out’..is now used of a temporary loss of memory.
1937 Tablet 23 Oct. 553/2 We feel quite anxious for this young man who has fierce migraine-like black-outs.
1940 H. G. Wells Babes in Darkling Wood iv. iii. 356 There's not a trace now of the original concussion... But there is still a black-out in the memory.
1943 T. Kitching Diary 9 Apr. in Life & Death in Changi (1998) x. 219 Menzies can't see; Forbes gets black-outs and fits of dizziness.
1958 Life 19 May 101/2 Eve White complained of severe headaches, often followed by blackouts, periods about which she had no knowledge except that time had passed.
1961 Lancet 5 Aug. 322/1 He had had several ‘black-outs’ resembling epilepsy.
1971 Physiol. & Behav. 7 77/2 Alcohol-induced short-term memory impairment has only been found in alcoholics with a history of blackouts.
1984 M. Gentle Golden Witchbreed vii. xxviii. 343 Aphasia, amnesia, blackouts, idiocy; and all the possible symptoms of brain damage.
2003 N. al-Radi Baghdad Diaries (new ed.) 151, I had a blackout, fainted flat on my face, broke five teeth.
3.
a. The failure of an electricity supply (esp. with respect to lighting); the resulting darkness. Also fig.
1934 Atlantic Mar. 350/1 ‘Black-out’..is now used of a..failure of the electric light.
1935 C. Day Lewis Time to Dance 55 The arctic winter and black-out of your dreams.
1942 Mind 51 257 It is only when we reach the rarefied air of high theology that this particular intellectual black-out occurs.
1985 Progress(Clearfield, Penn.) 23 Sept. 1/3 An unexpected blackout of the grange hall, stage and track areas..after two transformers burned up about 7:30 pm.
2003 L. Newlove et al. Auckland Unplugged iii. 69 The chaos that developed in the New York blackout in 1977.
b. Loss of radio reception (as a result of fading, jamming, an electrical storm, etc.).
1940 Pop. Mech. Oct. 571/1 This year a study was made of the effects of this partial blackout on radio signals.
1958 Listener 25 Dec. 1072/1 The normal reflections from the F-layer [of the ionosphere] cease and there is prolonged disturbance of short-wave reception. This is what has been called the radio ‘black-out’.
2007 D. Morris From Flight Deck iii. 48 Complete HF radio blackout on the entire sunlit side of the Earth for a number of hours.
c. The deliberate suppression of news or information; (also) a dearth of news reporting. Freq. in news blackout (see news n. Compounds 1a).
1941 Portsmouth(Ohio)Times 30 Mar. 6/5 The news blackout has settled over the Netherlands,..imposed by Nazi censors.
1957 Billboard 2 Sept. 68/5 A blackout of news in Boston's 4 daily papers, which have been shut down by a mailers' strike.
1988 H. Mantel Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1989) 168 At the time none of us knew what was going on. Total news blackout.
2003 P. Chantler & P. Stewart Basic Radio Journalism x. 168 News blackouts are usually co-ordinated by the police, who may tell the media about, for example, a kidnap..in return for secrecy.
4. Esp. during the Second World War (1939–45).
a. The action of extinguishing or obscuring lights, esp. by covering the windows in a building, as a precaution during air raids; the resulting darkness; the time or period of compulsory extinguishing or covering of lights. Also fig.
1935 Lancet 3 Aug. 281/1 Compulsory ‘black-outs’ in districts where experiments were being carried out against air attacks.
1939 Archit. Rev. 86 lvi/3, I slept right through the ‘black out’ on August 10th.
1940 Ann. Reg. 1939 127 Of the inconveniences the most serious continued to be the ‘black-out’.
1941 W. Lewis Let. 17 Oct. (1963) 301 If my eyes go I go too. Loathsome as the world is, I do like to see it. That sort of blackout I could not live in.
1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags 252 It's like walking in the blackout with a shaded torch. You can see just as far as the step you're taking.
1960 J. F. Lehmann I am my Brother i. 3 That night—the first night of black-out—I struggled out in the slithery rainy darkness to dine up in Highgate.
1961 L. van der Post Heart of Hunter ii. viii. 126 A curious ‘black-out’ in the spirit of the white man had prevented him from seeing the horror of the Bushman's plight.
1989 E. Dunlop Valley of Deer ii. 5 Born in London in 1940, Anne's earliest experience had been of black-out and blitz.
2002 Best of Brit. Nov. 46/4 York became a target for German bombs. The blackout was in force and windows everywhere were covered by close fitting blinds.
b. The material used to cover windows in this way; (in pl.) curtains, blinds, etc., made for this purpose.
1941 New Statesman 17 Aug. 154/2 Sick people cannot be nursed in wards with broken windows or with damaged black-out.
1980 D. Grant Emerald Decision i. 21 Lights slitting beneath doors, bursting from cracked windows or torn black-outs.
1989 R. Jolly Jackspeak 27 Black outs, black curtain material.
2009 C. Stockings Bardia p. v, Now, you, sir, too, are taking down The ‘black-outs’ which you braided Your windows with, when we felt sure That Durban would be raided.
5. orig. and chiefly U.S. A type of moist, rich chocolate layer cake with chocolate filling and soft chocolate icing, typically dusted with chocolate cake crumbs. Also occas.: any of various baked goods resembling this. Orig. and chiefly attrib., esp. in blackout cake.
In quot. 1942: designating a vanilla sponge with similar chocolate icing.
In later use also freq. in Brooklyn blackout (cake): see quot. 2003.
1942 Muscatine(Iowa)Jrnl. 13 Nov. 10/1 (advt.) Black-out cake. Two delicious layers of yellow cake covered with dark chocolate icing!
1958 Galveston(Texas)Daily News 11 Sept. 17/6 (advt.) All butter blackout cake Devil's-Food..59c.
1982 N.Y. Times 14 Aug. 46/2 The blackout cake formed of devil's food layers and soft semisweet chocolate ganache covered with fine and velvety chocolate cake crumbs remains, understandably, a favorite.
1987 Washington Post 11 Feb. e1/1 Chocolate Blackout Tart.
1999 N.Y. City 2000 (Fodor) ii. 178 The sinful Brooklyn Blackout, a killer dark-chocolate cake.
2002 T. Boyle Good Cookie 237 Chocolate blackouts. Inspired by the Brooklyn Blackout Cake, these are very dark chocolate cookies.
2003 L Scott Sober Kitchen 296/2 The blackout cake, characterized by its intense chocolate flavor, pudding filling, and chocolate cake crumb exterior, was made famous at Ebinger's bakery in Brooklyn during the 1950s.
2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 16 June d2/1 To New Yorkers, chocolate cake might mean crumb-dusted blackout, not layers of chocolate meringue and chocolate mousse.
Compounds
attrib.
C1. Designating thick, heavy window dressings or other materials used to block the light issuing from a building, etc., during an air raid (now chiefly hist.). Later also: designating curtains or blinds designed to keep a room dark by blocking light from the outside, esp. in order to facilitate sleep.
1934 Manch. Guardian 26 Nov. 12/3 The wares offered include steel gas-proof doors for cellars, fire extinguishers, first-aid boxes,..and ‘black-out’ blinds.
1941 Washington Post 12 Dec. 1/6 The White House has been measured for blackout curtains.
1942 Pop. Mech. June 104/2 Application of blackout paint to the inside of glass causes a mirrorlike effect so that moonlight and flares are reflected more than by uncoated glass.
1967 Los Angeles Times 16 July 10/1 The auto headlights still give off an eerie blue light through the heavy blackout paint.
1979 Winnipeg Free Press 20 Jan. (Leisure section) 11/3 Blackout paper had to be put over the windows every night.
1999 C. Mendelson Home Comforts lvi. 657/2 Most adults sleep better in darkness, and should pick blackout blinds and curtains for the bedroom.
2001 J. Hamilton-Paterson Loving Monsters (2002) xiv. 279 The poorer East End kids wore dresses run up from black-out material.
2008 P. Warner Rock-a-Bye Baby 50 Use blackout curtains during baby's daytime naps.
C2. orig. US. Designating a period of time during which a benefit, product, service, or offer is unavailable, as blackout date, blackout period, etc.
1955 Lock Haven(Pa.)Express 14 Sept. 10/2 (advt.) If you die unexpectedly, Nationwide assures your wife an income during the ‘blackout period’ when she is not eligible for Social Security Benefits.
1967 Daily Times(Salisbury, Maryland) 27 Apr. ii. 7/4 (advt.) This special fare is not available at all times. Black out dates include May 26, 27, 31, [etc.].
1985 Texas Monthly Nov. 247 (advt.) Holiday/seasonal surcharges and blackout periods may apply.
1992 Daily Herald(Chicago, Illinois) 28 May (Neighbor section) 4/5 (advt.) Tumi Travel Cash Certificates are good on any airline with no blackout times or dates.
2002 Evening Standard (Nexis) 31 Jan. 42 There are pitfalls: blackout dates which scupper your plans.
2011 R. Mazin Employee Benefits Answer Bk. ii. 20 The designation of blackout periods when business levels prohibit vacation time off
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