Meaning
In the theatrical sense, for a performance to sell every ticket - a sell-out run plays to full houses, and the show is sold out. In the artistic-integrity sense, to abandon one's principles or authenticity in exchange for money or success: the band that changes its sound for the charts is said to have sold out. Hyphenate the noun and adjective: a sell-out, a sold-out house. The integrity sense is always accusatory and much argued - one fan's sell out is another's breakthrough. Keep distinct from sell someone short, already catalogued here, a different betrayal idiom. Regional use: General English.
Origin
Two senses from one root, both old. The OED's earliest evidence for the noun sell-out is from 1855, in the Ipswich Journal, and Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1859 and the verb to 1796 - the full-house commercial sense growing naturally from selling out of stock. Wiktionary records both modern senses under the verb: to sell all of a supply (tickets selling out fast) and to abandon or betray one's principles to seek profit. Wikipedia's article on selling out defines the second sense precisely: to compromise one's integrity, morality, authenticity or principles in exchange for personal gain, with music and art the classic arenas - the musician who alters material for a mainstream audience. Farlex's idiom guide prints the full-house sense with the example of another concert sellout with over 30,000 in attendance.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- selling out
- sold out
Usage Examples
- The run sold out within an hour of the boxes opening, and the returns queue stretched round the theatre.
- Their first album was raw; the second went glossy, and the fans cried sell out.
- Every night sold out, so the producers added a month of performances.