Out-of-office

Origin

From out of office.

Full definition of out-of-office

Noun

1. (Internet) An email auto-reply informing people that the person they are trying to contact is not working and unavailable for an extended period of time.
• 2015-08-27, Emily Gould, The Art of the Out-of-Office Reply, There are poetic out-of-offices and humorous (or supposedly humorous) out-of-offices. There are out-of-offices that boast or complain about the person’s likely whereabouts (Bali! Jury duty.).
• 2023-08-07, Emma Beddington, Email makes my fingers tingle and my stomach drop with dread. Can’t we go back to pigeons?, That doesn’t happen in even the most enlightened workplaces, but nothing makes me feel more patriotic than emailing a French company in summer, getting an out-of-office that sends me to someone else, that person also being en vacances and suggesting a third, whose out-of-office directs me back to the first person.