count someone off—count or enumerate people:
- At the beginning of each class, I count off the students to see if the number present agrees with the attendance lists.
count someone out—
1. count people as they leave:
- The secretary counted the members out as they passed his desk.
2. not to include a person:
- If you are going for a walk in the rain, you can count me out.
Cf.: count someone in—add or include a person into one’s plans, etc.:
- Count me in for the party, and my husband will be coming along!
3. prevent smb. from being elected by counting the votes incorrectly:
- He wasn’t voted out, he was counted out.