In what sense is 'out of' used here?
I often hear someone say "cheat someone out of money", but "out of" sounds weird here to me. "cheat someone of money" would sound better to my ear, but which i think native English speakers would never say.

Cheat someone OUT OF money
Run OUT OF money

Do they use"out of" in the same sense here?

Question

In what sense is 'out of' used here?
I often hear someone say "cheat someone out of money", but "out of" sounds weird here to me. "cheat someone of money" would sound better to my ear, but which i think native English speakers would never say.

Cheat someone OUT OF money
Run OUT OF money

Do they use"out of" in the same sense here?

Answer

Hi, Sean!

"Cheated someone out of money" is correct. In this phrase, "out of" indicates that the indirect object of the sentence (someone) lost the direct object in question (money) as a result of the subject's actions (the subject is the person/people doing the cheating). It almost has the same meaning as "run out of money," except that in "run out of money," it's the subject that lost the direct object.

"Cheated someone of money," while grammatically correct, actually sounds more unnatural. Another word is needed there to make it more clear: either "cheated someone out of money" or "cheated someone of his/her money."

I hope this helps. 如果我回答的太复杂了，请跟我讲。我也可以用中文帮你解释。

Answer

It means to not have. You could imagine that the money is out of your pocket.

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