What does "to-go order" mean?

[Ahmadov]

Could anyone, please, explain what "to-go order" means? I tried to find this expression in various dictionaries but to no avail. Thanks beforehand.
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[Alan]

Hi Ahmadov,

This means simply an order for food that you take with you and don't eat in the restaurant.

Alan
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[Englishfan]

Alan has explained this one within minutes as he does so often. I'd like to add that especially with coffee to-go orders have become very popular. Go to a Starbucks or any other decent coffee shop and they all will have coffee to-go products. Incidently, I'm not so sure about the spelling. Is it coffee to go or coffee-to-go or coffee to-go?

[Ahmadov]

Surprisingly enough, "to-go order", which seemingly is an expression for something part of modern Western daily life, cannot be found in dictionaries like www.multitran.ru or cambridge online dictionary. (Please, correct my English if you find any mistakes in my sentences here and in future posts).
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[Mister Micawber]

I think that is because it is usually used as an unhyphenated post-modifier, Ahmadov, and that is the way it appears in Dictionary.com and Webster's Online: coffee and doughnuts to go.

I myself find 'to-go order' a little unnatural-- although obviously it must be used-- and most fast food staff say:

Would you like that order for here or to go?

to which the response is:

I'd like that to go, please.

Needless to say, it is easy enough to convert a post-modifier into an attributive on an ad hoc basis, and we do it often enough in conversation.
.
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