To give out; to be exhausted.
1854. He ‘hoped this ’spectable meeting war n’t going to Peter-out.’—H. H. Riley, ‘Puddleford,’ p. 84 (N.Y.).
a. 1865. The store in which he clerked was “petering out”—to use his own expression.—I. M. Tarbell, ‘Abraham Lincoln,’ McClure’s Mag., vi. 127 (Jan., 1896). (N.E.D.)
1876. [He advised him] to sell out at any sacrifice, as the mines were petered out.—Boston Post, May 5. (Bartlett.)
1888. The Boston Herald thinks the Hill boom is petering out. When the time comes for Mr. Hill to have a boom, it will not peter.—Missouri Republican, Feb. 15. (Farmer.)
