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What is the meaning of "the night was out"? Context sentence:

He knew that authorities would be after him like baying hounds before the night was out.

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    Before the night was ended - as in before the day/month/year/season/etc was out.
    – WS2
    Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 16:06
  • 1
    "before morning had broken"
    – Centaurus
    Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 16:06

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"Before the night is/was out" is an idiomatic expression that means "before night is over" or "before dawn". It has a somewhat romantic/poetic feel to it, so as with many idioms you should fully understand its nuance so you won't use it in the wrong context.

Before the night was out, they had stolen several hundred thousand dollars from the biggest banks in the city.

Before the night is out, Santa delivers all his presents to all the good children around the world.

The Blue Ninja swore to get revenge on his master's killer before the night was out.

As a side note, the equivalent to this idiom for daytime is "Before the day is/was done":

Before the day was done, he planned to sample every food truck downtown.

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