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Pan out   Listen
verb
pan out  v. i.  
1.
To succeed; as, the project didn't pan out.
2.
To turn out (profitably or unprofitably); to result; to develop; as, the investigation, or the speculation, panned out poorly. (Slang, U. S.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Pan out" Quotes from Famous Books



... ideas, like many of my other youthful dreams, did not "pan out" in following them up, I found other leads ...
— A Mountain Boyhood • Joe Mills

... ranch according to law, you see," Miss Georgie stated with conviction. "They've got to pan out a sample of gold to prove there's pay dirt there, before they can file their claims. And they've got to do their filing in Shoshone. I suppose their notices are up O.K. I wonder, now, how they intend to manage ...
— Good Indian • B. M. Bower

... in the M squad was a Maine infantryman, who had been with me in the Pemberton building, in Richmond, and had fashioned himself a little square pan out of a tin plate of a tobacco press, such as I have described in an earlier chapter. He had carried it with him ever since, and it was his sole vessel for all purposes—for cooking, carrying water, drawing rations, etc. He had cherished it as if it were a farm or a good situation. ...
— Andersonville, complete • John McElroy

... low-grade one, and she has to work overtime to make him pay. Two times out of five she's salted. She can't put in crushers and costly machinery. He'd notice 'em and be onto the game. They have to pan out what they get, and it hurts their tender hands. Some of 'em are natural sluice troughs and can carry out $1,000 to the ton. The dry-eyed ones have to depend on signed letters, false hair, sympathy, the kangaroo ...
— Strictly Business • O. Henry

... went to Boyle's and had sumptuous cheer at your expense. Charlie has begun to demur, and intends to write you a letter. Browne wrote me a note the other day. I enclose it to you. Please keep it for me. I hope your work will pan out more successfully. ...
— Eugene Field, A Study In Heredity And Contradictions - Vol. I • Slason Thompson

... suddenly, standing before her, "there was a time when you were afraid I wasn't going to pan out, ...
— Personality Plus - Some Experiences of Emma McChesney and Her Son, Jock • Edna Ferber

... chuckled to himself. When they sat down at noon to a piece of venison which Charley had prepared himself—taking the frying-pan out of the hands of Margot Patry, the old servant, and cooking it to a turn—Louis Trudel saw his years lengthen to an indefinite period. He even allowed himself to nervously stand up, bow, shake Charley's hand jerkingly, ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... Mr. Graves! There was a time when I'd have got down on my knees and crawled from here to New York to help 'Bije Warren. I lent him money to start in business. Later on him and I went into partnership together on a—a fool South American speculation that didn't pan out for nothin'. I didn't care for that. I took my chance same as he did, we formed a stock company all amongst ourselves, and I've got my share of the stock somewhere yet. It may come in handy if I ever want to ...
— Cap'n Warren's Wards • Joseph C. Lincoln

... carefully. "I'm just checking a lead," he said at last. "I don't know if it's going to pan out or not, but I thought I'd drive down to Richmond and check on a name I've got. I'll call you about it in the morning, Tom, and let you ...
— Supermind • Gordon Randall Garrett

... he had seen ruins "finer than Choqquequirau" at a place called Huayna Picchu; but he had never been to Choqquequirau. Those who knew him best shrugged their shoulders and did not seem to place much confidence in his word. Too often he had been over-enthusiastic about mines which did not "pan out." Yet his report resembled that of Charles Wiener, a French explorer, who, about 1875, in the course of his wanderings in the Andes, visited Ollantaytambo. While there he was told that there were fine ruins down the Urubamba Valley at a place called "Huaina-Picchu or ...
— Inca Land - Explorations in the Highlands of Peru • Hiram Bingham

... me, Hugh!" he burst out with. "I honestly believe you are getting close to a bully scheme that may pan out firstclass. Argument and all kinds of pleading wouldn't influence that man a bit, because he's selfish, I know he must be, or else he wouldn't burden his poor sister, and see her working for his miserable comfort every day, and all day long. But, Hugh, he could be moved ...
— The Chums of Scranton High Out for the Pennant • Donald Ferguson

... remarked presently, "I've sold typewriters for two years, from the Ditch to Nagasaki, and from the land o' rubies clear to the land of apes, and I'm doggone sick of toting literary sausage grinders around. I see a chance to horn in on a prospect that's sure to pay exes and maybe pan out a pile, but I need a good man of your profession in ...
— Gold Out of Celebes • Aylward Edward Dingle

... it is to figure out who's going to win the next championship in the National League of baseball clubs, while you're sitting around the stove in the winter time?" he told Giraffe. "But these paper victories seldom pan out the same way when the good old summer time comes along, and the boys get hustling. I suppose now, Giraffe, you'll be the one to knock over those two men, each with a single shot from your faithful ...
— The, Boy Scouts on Sturgeon Island - or Marooned Among the Game-fish Poachers • Herbert Carter

... rich enough to pay really well; besides, we shall be getting it stolen. I fancy last night two or three buckets-full were taken away at that edge of the bank; and as there has been a perfect rush for staking out claims to-day, I have no doubt that it was found to pan out very rich." ...
— Captain Bayley's Heir: - A Tale of the Gold Fields of California • G. A. Henty

... called with a nasal inflection, "how air ye? Do y' think minin' is goin' t' pan out well this yar spring?" Then she caught sight of his weapon. "What are you going to shoot?" she ...
— The Claim Jumpers • Stewart Edward White

... was n't quite satisfied about it. Somehow, the Governor did n't seem to pan out to be just the kind of man who would give that kind of a jolt to his enemies. He was too Eastern. I was still chawin' it over in my mind, when one day I met Mrs. Coolidge, two or three weeks after it ...
— Emerson's Wife and Other Western Stories • Florence Finch Kelly

... Pan out of these reeds is made, And when he plays upon it to the shepherds They pity him, so mournful is the sound. Be thou not coy and cold as ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... much on religion, I never ain't had no show; But I've got a middlin' tight grip, sir, On the handful o' things I know. I don't pan out on the prophets And free-will, and that sort of thing,— But I b'lieve in God and the angels, Ever sence one ...
— Journeys Through Bookland - Volume Four • Charles H. Sylvester

... now. But the original openings were made on the eastern slope of the butte. They didn't pan out very well, and Flemister began to look for a victim to whom he could sell. About that time a man, whose name I can never recall, took up a claim on the western slope of the ridge directly opposite Flemister. This man struck it pretty rich, and Flemister began to bully him on the ...
— The Taming of Red Butte Western • Francis Lynde

... wouldn't let me speak, and, in addition, I was getting closer to ore every shot at the mine, and was holding off until I could lay both myself and my goldmine at her feet, and ask her to take the two of us, so if one didn't pan out the other might. But it seemed like I'd never get into pay. The closer I got the harder I worked, and, of course, the less I saw of her, likewise the oftener Bennett came. I reckon no man ever worked like I did—two shifts a day, eighteen hours, with six to sleep. The skin came off ...
— The Barrier • Rex Beach

... close the estate when the sale is completed," said Dan. "Practically everything will be cleaned up when the house is sold. That Canneries stock that we inventoried as worthless is pretty sure to pan out. ...
— A Hoosier Chronicle • Meredith Nicholson

... many things glittered at a banquet to celebrate universal brotherhood which did not pan out pure gold in the experiment of life. He had heard at such a love feast an aristocratic poet extoll in harangue the unwashed Democracy, a Walking Delegate read a poem, a Jew quote the Koran with unction, a Mohammedan eulogise Monogamy, a Single-Taxer ...
— The One Woman • Thomas Dixon

... continued Bill, "that your wife will prove a valuable find, as valuable a find as your claim at Robin Creek, an' that she'll pan out rich in virtue an' all womanly qualities. H'm." The Prospector turned for sympathy to his friends. "I think that's pretty fair, eh, mates?" But they only grinned. So Bill addressed himself once more ...
— The Tale of Timber Town • Alfred Grace

... careless fellow!" exclaimed Uncle Tad. "That dust nearly blinded me!" The old soldier held the reins in one hand, for Prince seemed ready to bolt again, and with the other hand Uncle Tad wiped the dust from the porter's pan out of ...
— Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South • Laura Lee Hope

... He's a rotten Sheriff. Oh, a rotten Sheriff. If he did his first duty he'd hang himself. This is a rotten town. Your fathers came here on a false alarm of gold- digging; and when the gold didn't pan out, they lived by licking their young ...
— The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet • George Bernard Shaw

... when from fright she tipped the tray which she was carrying and spilled some of the mulled wine over her gown, he cried sharply: "Where are your wits! First you forget to take the red hot warming-pan out of the bed and now you old goose you spill my good drink onto ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... the boat-deck that afternoon for tea (which, by the way, he never drank, being a thorough-going coffee merchant), he said to Kitty: "You win on points. If Webb doesn't pan out, why, we can discharge him. I'll take a chance at a man who isn't afraid to look you squarely ...
— The Voice in the Fog • Harold MacGrath

... door. "How is she?" she said in a hushed voice to Harry Edgham, frantically stirring the burned eggs, which sent up a monstrous smoke and smell. As she spoke, she went over to him, took the frying-pan out of his hands, and carried it over ...
— By the Light of the Soul - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... he said kindly. 'Keep your tail up. We'll get the beastly milk-pan out all right. Come on.' He rushed hastily to the garden and gave a low, signifying whistle, which the others know well enough to mean ...
— The Wouldbegoods • E. Nesbit

... care for the large, painted person, but perhaps there was more good in her than he knew. He would have to go and find out. It might even be that she would be a help in case Stephen Marshall's mother did not pan out. ...
— The Witness • Grace Livingston Hill Lutz

... explained. "An' th' two swells is drivin' aroun' in a cab like as if they wuz expectin' fun. They just passed you on th' avenoo, an' now they's comin' back. That's their rig—cuttin' across there. See? I tell you, they's somethin' in the air, an' it looks as though it ain't goin' to pan out as they wanted ...
— Castle Craneycrow • George Barr McCutcheon

... his lordship. "Gad, gentlemen, we're nearly there. Blithe, you're a stage-manager in a million. The thing's going to pan out like a well-written play. What time did you tell ...
— Anthony Lyveden • Dornford Yates

... of the scene the Boss never would fill in just as it came off the bat, but I managed to piece out that the brigandess, sizing us up for a couple of pikers, reckoned that we wouldn't pan out much cash, and that the Boss might be used some rough by the gang. That prospect not setting well on her mind, she rolls out the back door of their camp, makes a swift trip around to our new private entrance, squeezes through the bars, and comes ...
— Shorty McCabe • Sewell Ford

... creaking mechanism and crudeness of stage business and rendition; something compounded of dew and sun and wind, such as could only be found in a veritable Forest of Arden; something elusive, exquisite, iridescent; something he had supposed had vanished from the world about the time they put Pan out of business and stopped up the Pipes of Arcady. It was enchanting, elemental, genuine Elizabethan, had the spirit of Master Skylark himself in it. Maybe it was the spirit of youth itself, immortal youth, playing immortal youth's supreme ...
— Wild Wings - A Romance of Youth • Margaret Rebecca Piper

... themselves comfortably or luxuriously. They were altogether too eager to get at the actual digging. There was an immense excitement of the gamble in it all. A man might dig for days without adequate results and then of a sudden run into a rich pocket. Or he might pan out an immense sum within the first ten minutes of striking his pick to earth. No one could tell. The fact that the average of all the days and all the men amounted to very little more than living wages ...
— The Forty-Niners - A Chronicle of the California Trail and El Dorado • Stewart Edward White

... one. My friend the Pocket Hunter had been looking twenty years. His working outfit was a shovel, a pick, a gold pan which he kept cleaner than his plate, and a pocket magnifier. When he came to a watercourse he would pan out the gravel of its bed for "colors," and under the glass determine if they had come from far or near, and so spying he would work up the stream until he found where the drift of the gold-bearing outcrop fanned out into the creek; then up the side ...
— The Land Of Little Rain • Mary Hunter Austin

... dog under their bed, which gnawed their bed-clothes. On the next day, the chairs and tables began to dance, apparently of their own accord. On the fifth day, something came into the bedchamber and walked up and down; and fetching the warming-pan out of the withdrawing-room, made so much noise with it that they thought five church-bells were ringing in their ears. On the sixth day, the plates and dishes were thrown up and down the dining-room. On the seventh, ...
— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds • Charles Mackay

... eighteen, in the course of scampering), and was sufficient of fence, particularly of the Highland broadsword,—not a bad boxer, when I could keep my temper, which was difficult, but which I strove to do ever since I knocked down Mr. Purling, and put his knee-pan out (with the gloves on), in Angelo's and Jackson's rooms in 1806, during the sparring,—and I was, besides, a very fair cricketer,—one of the Harrow eleven, when we played against Eton in 1805. Besides, ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. I. (of VI.) - With his Letters and Journals. • Thomas Moore

... believe may happen, though," exulted Morton. "This socialism, and maybe even these here International Workers of the World, may pan out as a new kind of religion. I don't know much about it, I got to admit. But looks as though it might be that way. It's dead certain the old political parties are just gangs—don't stand for anything except the name. ...
— Our Mr. Wrenn - The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man • Sinclair Lewis

... dressing, alternating them until the fish is well stuffed; then bind with a tape. Lard the fish with strips of salt pork. Lay in a baking-pan, add one cupful of hot water [Page 49] and one tablespoonful of butter, and bake, basting often. In fifteen minutes take the pan out of the oven and spread the fish with a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes, seasoned with a sprinkling of salt, some melted butter, and a light sprinkling of grated cheese. Bake until the tomatoes are done, then carefully remove to a platter, taking ...
— How to Cook Fish • Olive Green

... tempered the wind to the shorn lamb. "We'll see how the workings pan out. I'd want ...
— Master of the Moondog • Stanley Mullen

... will give your children a chance to sho what they can do for you in your sudden prosperity, as I shall give mine a chance to show how they can stand reverse and disappointment. If my head is level—and I reckon it is—they'll both pan out ...
— A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready • Bret Harte

... time none of the comforts and luxuries to be found there to-day existed. We worked with pick and axe, and stilled our hunger with the wild animals we killed. Two weeks later trouble arose in the camp. Some of our party maintained that we had chosen a bad place, because the gold did not pan out as well as they had hoped. Others again persisted in upholding the spot selected. The upshot of the matter was, that we parted. I and two others remained, the rest ...
— The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume I (of 2) • Alexandre Dumas pere

... too bad about missing my first letters or the call. I was off on a wild goose chase that just didn't pan out, so you really didn't miss a ...
— Dead Giveaway • Gordon Randall Garrett

... the mine. Folks thought at first that she was going to pan out another bonanza, I guess, but now she's just about profitable enough to make it worth while to keep her going. Great town, this must have been when she was ...
— The Fifth Ace • Douglas Grant

... the ground, but he explained he was handicapped by high water and was trying to divert the channel of a creek. In that last letter he said he had carried the scheme nearly through; the next season would pay my money back and more; the Aurora would pan out the richest strike he had ever made. But that did not trouble me. I knew if Weatherbee had spent two years on that placer, the gravels had something to show. The point that weighed was that he was willing to go home at last to the States. I had urged him before I ...
— The Rim of the Desert • Ada Woodruff Anderson

... I thought she must mean to give a favorable answer to the buried letter. I blessed Cleopatra for the "tip" she had given, though I wondered what was the "humiliation" from which I could save her niece. "After all," said I, "the desert trip's going to pan out a success." But it must have been about this time that the wind rose. It blew Miss Hassett-Bean's hat up instead of down, and other hats off, when we had started again—and it blew into our eyes grains of ...
— It Happened in Egypt • C. N. Williamson & A. M. Williamson

... I knew that I was "up against it" in his town—my old customer gone out of business; Fred not wanting, then, of course, to buy of me. But I took my medicine and consoled myself with the thought that a few grains of gold would pan out in ...
— Tales of the Road • Charles N. Crewdson



Words linked to "Pan out" :   pan, deliver the goods, win, come through, bring home the bacon



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