Keep out means not to go into a place, or to stop people, animals, cold or water from getting in. A Keep out sign on a door or gate means 'no entry'. The place is introduced with of: keep out of the kitchen.
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keep out (of + place); keep + people/animals + out; keep out + the cold/the rain
- My teenage son has a sign on his bedroom door that says 'Keep out'.
- Please keep out of the lab while the experiment is running.
- We hung thick curtains to keep the cold out during the winter.
What changed
First versionPlease keep out from my room when I'm working.
RevisionPlease keep out of my room when I'm working.
Because the idea is 'stay away from my room', from seems to fit. But after keep out, the place is introduced only with of: keep out of my room. From belongs in keep away from, which is a different expression.
Keep out of can also mean not getting involved: I try to keep out of their arguments. When you talk about stopping something getting in, the object can go after out or in the middle: keep out the cold, keep the cold out. A pronoun goes only in the middle: keep it out.
Your turn
These old windows don't ___ the cold, so the flat is freezing every January.
Show the answer
keep out — The cold must not get into the flat, so keep out. Keep off is used for surfaces and for things you avoid: keep off the grass, keep off sugar.
Describe how you protect your home, country house or workplace from something unpleasant. Say what exactly you keep out and how.
In summer we keep the mosquitoes out with fine nets on all the windows.
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