sub out

English

Etymology

Short for substitute out or subcontract out

Verb

sub out (third-person singular simple present subs out, present participle subbing out, simple past and past participle subbed out)

1. (transitive) To replace with a substitute.

   Coordinate term: sub in

   • 2010, Kazim Ali, Orange Alert, page 183:

     It's this single word also that Dickenson's editors subbed out for the 1896 edition of her poems, rendering the line instead, “But sequence ravelled out of reach / like balls upon a floor.”

   • 2013, Karen Elizaga, Find Your Sweet Spot, page 87:

     I've listed sample habits to demonstrate how you might sub out an unproductive one with a productive one.

   • 2014, Lew Freedman, The Day All the Stars Came Out, page 103:

     While McGraw subbed out Wilson, he allowed pitcher Lon Warneke to hit for himself.

   • 2018, Rebecca Sullivan, The Art of Herbs for Health:

     The thyme can be subbed out for rosemary or sage, if you prefer.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To hire a subcontractor (to complete a task).
   • 1963, House & Home - Volume 24, page 122:

     On the other hand, we sub out all our basement excavation work simply because we found an expert sub who could beat our costs.

   • 2011, Max Kelly, Stress Failure, page 24:

     You hate drywall, why are you doing it yourself? You shoulda subbed that out.

   • 2015, Richard A. Brooks, Private Investigators & The Dirty Little Secret of Subcontracting:

     They will also sub out to investigators who are not insured or licensed as a PI in the case area.

   • 2018, Low Sui Pheng, Sim Jia Zheng, Construction Productivity in the Multilayer Subcontracting System, page 274:

     So when I sub-out, it becomes a problem for the sub-cons to handle, not me.

Further reading

• “sub out”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.