hollow out

phrasal verb

hollowed out; hollowing out; hollows out

: to remove the inside of (something) : to make an empty space in (something)

The kids were hollowing out pumpkins.

a hollowed-out log

: to form (something) by digging or cutting the inside of something

Workers hollowed out a tunnel through the mountain.

Examples of hollow out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web People were slumped over and hollowed out, like characters in a horror movie. —

Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2024 This priority is so all-consuming that even the already reed-like Kristina seeks dangerous extra credit, dumping her dinners outside her bedroom window, and procuring a black-market tapeworm to further hollow out her insides. —

Guy Lodge, Variety, 17 Aug. 2024 Based on previous ethnographic and archaeological evidence, one telltale sign is the existence of pits that show evidence of people using fire to hollow out trees, expand and shape wood, and build and repair boats. —

Richard Kemeny, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Aug. 2024 The hollowing out of the middle is paralleled in many other areas — the end of the midlist book has been the sad story of print publishing. —

Mark Gimein, theweek, 13 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for hollow out

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hollow out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.