watch out

Formswatches out, watching out, watched out

1. 1
   warning shoutinterjection

   Used to warn someone that danger is close at hand.

   Watch out! The ladder's about to tip!

   "Watch out!" someone yelled, just as the branch came crashing down.

   Note

   As an interjection it stands alone, often shouted, and takes no object; the danger is named in the next breath, if at all (Watch out! The ladder!). Once a phrase with for follows, it has turned into the verb of taking care, as in watch out for the ice.

2. 2
   be carefulphrasal verbidiomaticintransitive

   To stay alert, look carefully, or take care; often used as a command.

   Watch out for black ice on the bridge this morning.

   Investors should watch out for companies that promise quick and easy returns.

   Similarbeware

   Note

   The phrase points two ways when for follows, and context decides which. Watch out for low doorways means beware of them; Sloane's watching out for us, in BioWare's Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017), means she is looking after them. The first is a warning about a danger, the second a kind of protection, and the object tells you which you have.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2