peter out
UK /ˌpiːtəɹ‿ˈaʊt/ · US /ˌpitɚ‿ˈaʊt/ verb
Forms peters out petering out petered out
- verb (intransitive, originally US) Synonym of peter (“to diminish to nothing, (originally) to refer to a vein of ore”). “What started as a great effort ended up petering out to nothing.”
Synonyms
dwindle fade away fade out gutter out spin down tail away trail off peter taper off fizzle out fizzle poop out run down run out conk out
Etymology
From peter (“diminish to nothing”, intransitive verb) + out. First attested in the mid-1800s.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “peter out”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details