psych

1

or psyche

[ sahyk ]
/ saɪk /

verb (used with object) Informal.

to intimidate or frighten psychologically, or make nervous (often followed by out): to psych out the competition.
to prepare psychologically to be in the right frame of mind or to give one's best (often followed by up): to psych oneself up for an interview.
to figure out psychologically; decipher (often followed by out): to psych out a problem.

Origin of psych

1
1915–20 in earlier sense “to subject to psychoanalysis”; originally a shortening of psychoanalyze; in later use (especially in defs 1, 2) perhaps independent use of psych-

Words nearby psych

Definition for psych out (2 of 2)

psych-out
[ sahyk-out ]
/ ˈsaɪkˌaʊt /

noun Informal.

an act or instance of psyching out.

Origin of psych-out

First recorded in 1960–65; noun use of verb phrase psych out

British Dictionary definitions for psych out (1 of 2)

psych out

verb (mainly tr, adverb) informal

to guess correctly the intentions of (another); outguess
to analyse or solve (a problem, etc) psychologically
to intimidate or frighten
(intr, adverb) to lose control psychologically; break down

British Dictionary definitions for psych out (2 of 2)

psych

psyche

/ (saɪk) /

verb

(tr) informal to psychoanalyse See also psych out, psych up

Word Origin for psych

C20: shortened from psychoanalyse

Idioms and Phrases with psych out

psych out

1

Analyze or understand something; also, anticipate the intentions of someone, as in It's hard to psych out the opposition's thinking, but we have to try.

2

Undermine the confidence of, intimidate. For example, The basketball team managed to psych out their opponents' guards. This expression is often used in the passive and can mean “lose one's nerve,” as in After I learned that he had two doctorates in the field, I was completely psyched out. Both slangy usages date from the second half of the 1900s and allude to influencing someone psychologically.