outlet

noun

OWT-let/ˈaʊtlɛt/

5 meanings of outlet

1
nouncountable
A socket in a wall, wired to the electrical supply, where devices can be plugged in to get power.
The electrician added an outlet behind the television so the cables would stay hidden.
Older houses often have too few outlets for all of today's gadgets.
Similarsocket, receptacle
2
nouncountable
A store where customers can buy goods from a particular maker or supplier.
She manages a clothing outlet that carries only one designer's line.
The manufacturer runs several outlets across the region to sell directly to customers.
Similarstore, shop, retailer
3
nouncountable
A means by which a person can release pent-up desires, emotions, or energy.
After a long week, the gym became his main outlet for frustration.
Writing in a journal offered her a quiet outlet for feelings she couldn't say aloud.
Similarrelease, channel
Note
Here the vent is figurative: what escapes is stress, grief or energy rather than water or gas. The usual construction is an outlet for something, as in a great outlet for her stress, and it often names an activity such as a sport or a craft. Walt Whitman stretches it in "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" (1865), placing it before a noun: "Death's outlet song of life."
4
nouncountable
A vent or similar passage that allows something to escape.
The tank has an outlet near the base to let excess water drain away.
Hot gases leave the furnace through an outlet at the top.
Similarvent, opening, exit, drain
Oppositeinlet, intake
Note
The literal sense, and the one the word was built for. Middle English outlete comes from outleten, "to let out," so an outlet is simply a let-out. Dutch uitlaat and German Auslass are formed the same way. It usually takes for to name what escapes (an outlet for steam). The emotional meaning is this same passage turned inward, with feelings escaping instead of steam.
5
nouncountable
A river that flows out of a lake, carrying its water onward.
The lake drains through a single outlet at its southern end.
Several streams feed the lake, but only one outlet carries water away.
Similaroutflow
Oppositeinlet

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English outlete (also outeleate, ut-lete), from the verb outleten ("to allow, let out, emit"), equivalent to out- plus let. It is comparable to West Frisian útlit, Dutch uitlaat, and German Auslass, all meaning "outlet."