It is the name of a Yanni album. Is this equal to "brouhaha" and "noise"? What is the general rule to understand the meaning of "out of"? Sometimes it means "lack of something", like in "out of gas", but sometimes it means "because of", like in "out of jealousy". I got a bit confused!
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No, it does not imply noise, just the opposite. The title Out of Silence suggests the creative impulse for this music emerged from a meditative state of mind.
But we can be "out of eggs", which means we have no eggs.
A person could say, "I'm all out of peace and quiet since little Johnny turned two. He is such an imp." but that would be a figurative use, suggesting that peace and quiet is something one can have on hand, on a shelf in the pantry. But peace and quiet doesn't come in a can.
So you can usually figure this out by asking yourself, is the noun quantifiable? Is it available by the pound, by the kilo, by the ounce, by the dozen? If yes, then "out of" means "there is no more of it, it is gone, consumed". If the noun is not quantifiable then, barring some figurative use, it will probably mean "emerging from" or the similar "arising from".
I'm out of patience. I am emerging from patience? or I have no patience left?
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1Thank you so much! Patience is not quantifiable, but here, it means "you have no patience" :) Oct 8, 2014 at 14:16