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chillout
chillout /
t
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t/ noun [U] a style of electronic music that is not fast or lively and is intended to make you relaxed and calm: We are giving away a free copy of Pure Jazz Chillout! 
I love chillout music. It’s a great way to lie back, relax and drift into another world. With so many chillout compilations being released at the moment, how can you decide which ones are worth buying? It’s a loud bar/nightclub with space for dancing and a fully-equipped chillout room (= a quiet room where you can relax and listen to chillout music) at the rear.
This word has been around for some time, but recently there have been a lot of albums featuring a collection of this type of music. Nowadays the word is commonly used as a noun and written chillout instead of the older chill-out.
Both terms came into the language in the 1990s from the phrasal verb to chill out (= to relax and stop feeling angry or nervous about sth). At this time clubs played fast, loud and lively dance music, and the adjective chill-out was used to describe the music that was played to help people relax after a lot of energetic dancing, or the room where this was played.
Chilled out is another adjective that comes from this verb, and means relaxed or relaxing: She was very chilled out. a chilled-out atmosphere
As for the verb itself, the particle out is often dropped, leaving the verb to chill: I need to go home and chill for a couple of hours before my interview.
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For more information on phrasal verbs, their particles and related nouns and adjectives, check out the Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs for Learners of English, or Really Learn 100 Phrasal Verbs for self-study practice exercises! |
  
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