Strictly speaking, all refinancing of debt is "cash-out," when funds retrieved are utilized for anything other than repaying an existing loan.
[1] When granting loans or purchasing assets on the asset side of their balance sheets, commercial banks generate book money in the form of demand deposits in checking accounts for their customers on the liability side (see money creation).
In the broadest sense, a bank refers to the risk-adjusted management of all balance sheet items that have arisen in return for lending business as refinancing.
The difference between cashout refinancing and a home equity loan are as follows: The opposite, "rate-and-term" refinancing, occurs when a better note rate, better loan terms, or both become available to an owner which restructures their debt portfolio as it relates to liens held against a subject property.
Loan-to-value limits, and other factors in loan approval determine how much cash can be taken out from the equity of any one property.