Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

off

[awf, of]

Example Sentences Origin

adverb

so as to be no longer supported or attached: This button is about to come off.

so as to be no longer covering or enclosing: to take a hat off; to take the wrapping off.

away from a place: to run off; to look off toward the west.

away from a path, course, etc.; aside: This road branches off to Grove City.

so as to be away or on one's way: to start off early; to cast off.

EXPAND

away from what is considered normal, regular, standard, or the like: to go off on a tangent.

from a charge or price: He took 10 percent off for all cash purchases.

at a distance in space or future time: to back off a few feet; Summer is only a week off.

out of operation or effective existence: Turn the lights off.

10.

into operation or action: The alarm goes off at noon.

11.

so as to interrupt continuity or cause discontinuance: Negotiations have been broken off.

12.

in absence from work, service, a job, etc.: two days off at Christmas.

13.

completely; utterly: to kill off all the inhabitants.

14.

with prompt or ready performance: to dash a letter off.

15.

to fulfillment, or into execution or effect: The contest came off on the appointed day.

16.

into nonexistence or nothingness: My headache passed off soon.

17.

so as to be delineated, divided, or apportioned: Mark it off into equal parts.

18.

away from a state of consciousness: I must have dozed off.

19.

Nautical. away from the land, a ship, the wind, etc.

COLLAPSE

preposition

20.

so as no longer to be supported by, attached to, on, resting on, or unified with: Take your feet off the table! break a piece of bread off the loaf.

21.

deviating from: off balance; off course.

22.

below or less than the usual or expected level or standard: 20 percent off the marked price; I was off my golf game.

23.

away, disengaged, or resting from: to be off duty on Tuesdays.

24.

Informal. refraining or abstaining from; denying oneself the pleasure, company, practice, etc., of: He's off gambling.

EXPAND

25.

away from; apart or distant from: a village off the main road.

26.

leading into or away from: an alley off 12th Street.

27.

not fixed on or directed toward, as the gaze, eyes, etc.: Their eyes weren't off the king for a moment.

28.

Informal. from (a specified source): I bought it off a street vendor.

29.

from or of, indicating material or component parts: to lunch off cheese and fruit.

30.

from or by such means or use of: living off an inheritance; living off his parents.

31.

Nautical. at some distance to seaward of: off Cape Hatteras.

COLLAPSE

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Off is one of our favorite verbs.

So is yaff. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

to bark; yelp.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

adjective

32.

in error; wrong: You are off on that point.

33.

slightly abnormal or not quite sane: He is a little off, but he's really harmless.

34.

not up to standard; not so good or satisfactory as usual; inferior or subnormal: a good play full of off moments.

35.

no longer in effect, in operation, or in process: The agreement is off.

36.

stopped from flowing, as by the closing of a valve: The electricity is off.

EXPAND

37.

in a specified state, circumstance, etc.: to be badly off for money.

38.

(of time) free from work or duty; nonworking: a pastime for one's off hours.

39.

not working at one's usual occupation: We're off Wednesdays during the summer.

40.

of less than the ordinary activity, liveliness, or lively interest; slack: an off season in the tourist trade.

41.

unlikely; remote; doubtful: on the off chance that we'd find her at home.

42.

more distant; farther: the off side of a wall.

43.

(of a vehicle, single animal, or pair of animals hitched side by side) of, being, or pertaining to the right as seen from the rider's or driver's viewpoint (opposed to near): the off horse; the off side.

44.

starting on one's way; leaving: I'm off to Europe on Monday. They're off and running in the third race at Aqueduct.

45.

lower in price or value; down: Stock prices were off this morning.

46.

Nautical. noting one of two like things that is the farther from the shore; seaward: the off side of the ship.

47.

Cricket. noting or pertaining to that side of the wicket or of the field opposite that on which the batsman stands.

COLLAPSE

noun

48.

the state or fact of being off.

49.

Cricket. the off side.

verb (used without object)

50.

to go off or away; leave (used imperatively): Off, and don't come back!

verb (used with object)

51.

Slang. to kill; slay.

Verb phrase

52.

get off on. get (def. 57).

Idioms

53.

get it off. get (def. 54).

54.

off and on,

Also, on and off. with intervals between; intermittently: to work off and on.

Nautical. on alternate tacks.

55.

off of, Informal. off: Take your feet off of the table!

56.

off with,

take away; remove: Off with those muddy boots before you step into this kitchen!

cut off: Off with his head!

Origin:
orig. stressed variant of of¹

Usage note
The phrasal preposition off of is old in English, going back to the 16th century. Although usage guides reject it as redundant, recommending off without of, the phrase is widespread in speech, including that of the educated: Let's watch as the presidential candidates come off of the rostrum and down into the audience. Off of is rare in edited writing except to give the flavor of speech.

Example Sentences

America's largest particle accelerator is to be switched off.

If you're one of the unlucky ones, the ground starts to shake, jolting your house off its foundation.

One day in the future, infection may be fought by simply switching bacterial invaders off.

EXPAND

America's largest particle accelerator is to be switched off.

If you're one of the unlucky ones, the ground starts to shake, jolting your house off its foundation.

One day in the future, infection may be fought by simply switching bacterial invaders off.

The lumbering beasts coexisted with the first humans for tens of thousands of years and then died off.

To prevent powdery mildew, plant resistant varieties and routinely spray plants with jets of water to wash off fungus spores.

Zinc fingers are the killer app for gene therapy because they can turn off genes that may be causing problems.

Now pharmaceutical firms are beginning to careen off the patent cliff.

Warming due to climate change will level off in the coming years, researchers predict based on a new climate model.

What's left over in the core, the radioactive material, will continue to give off heat for a long time.

Legends report samurai warriors soaking off the aftermath of battle and peasants trekking to famous onsen to heal cuts and burns.

The best strategy is to shake snow off or knock it off with a broom to keep it from building up.

One such might be the requirement to stash your earphones and switch off your iPod on take-off and landing.

California ground squirrels warm up their tails to ward off heat-sensitive rattlesnakes, researchers have discovered.

Digital books are flying off the proverbial shelves.

Cutting off the wattles of roosters and seeing how the behavior of hens changed wasn't an option.

Gray-green leaves tend to drop off around bloom time, but this partly deciduous tree does not lose all of its foliage.

She told me of a house which had its roof blown off and a signed check lying on a table below wasn't even blown off the table.

The honey runs in a bright amber stream off the frame.

Not dirty as in it won't come off your clothes-although that problem has dogged construction workers for centuries.

Every couple of months, set the plant in the shower and spray the foliage with tepid water to wash off dust.

Franklin's force warded off attack and arrived safely, if cold and wet, at the ruined settlement.

The next day he took his two sons to the barn with him, and again the crows flew off.

The clothed body of a small child floats a few yards off the island.

Holds its fruit up off the ground, avoiding fruit rot.

The birds could have been another species flying off track.

Tougher than petunias, calibrachoa has smaller flowers that last longer and fall off cleanly after bloom.

He looked at the other end of the pool, toward the referee, making the mistake of taking his eye off the man guarding him.

She'll have to wait until it's done flowering and then snip off the spent bloom when black seeds are visible.

Rip up a plant and you will find a number of potatoes dripping off the bottom.

After gaining some height, they peel off in small groups, a sea of opal white underbellies.

Those being laid off range from administrative workers to support workers in food service, housekeeping and clerical jobs.

But not every high-tech strategy pays off for colleges.

Solar panels that can shake off their dust off via a self-generated electric pulse keep soaking in maximal rays.

Three plant hunters venture off in search of rare, growing treasure.

Anyone who has played football knows how much work is done off the field.

Paying off your house puts all of your money in a single investment.

Needless to say, having safely landed on a public roadway, it was probably not the best decision to try to take off again.

When things heat up outside, cool things off in the kitchen with a chilled, low-fat soup full of fresh summer ingredients.

Off to the left is the chapel-Dordt is closely affiliated.

It takes lots of practice to shave strokes off your golf score.

Foodie playthings that veer off into sheer ridiculousness when it comes to interacting with what's on our plate.

Leave the real world behind and take off on any of our favorite quiet winter destinations.

Kolb has argued for many years that college students are better off if they choose a major that fits their learning style.

Mature forests in colder climes may continue to store more carbon than they emit, thereby helping to stave off global warming.

Survivors say they had no warning that a giant wall of water was headed their way: two buoys off the islands that wer.

At the last minute, finish them off with a tangy, sticky glaze.

So on his windowsill, he keeps a foot-size piece broken off one of the.

Thirteen sixth graders are milling around, preparing to set off on a daylong excursion.

Many people have responded about tenure-track positions and taking time off after giving birth.

The disparity is enough to lead some skeptics to swear off the proposal entirely.

Scientists have found that predator species trade off between prey availability and water temperature in their travels.

He first combined plants with textures and forms that play off one another.

To scare off the predatory creature, people covered their homes with the color red and filled the air with loud noises.

With a small, sharp knife, cut the ends off the oranges.

Biomechanics suggests that a giraffe-size pterosaur could have jumped from all fours to get off the ground.

Journalists in the city warned her to be off the streets by dark.

They're the sculptural little plants, usually shunted off to the side in nurseries, that you dash past without a glance.

Underwater landslides off the mid-Atlantic could trigger a tsunami, but the likelihood appears slim.

He did this by sectioning off a kilometer-length of stream beneath a vast greenhouse built in the forest.

In spring, it provides an ideal environment for hardening off annual flower and vegetable seedlings started indoors.

Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off.

At either cape, look for daredevil windsurfers and fishermen casting off the cliffs.

Already available drugs may stave off and even reverse debilitating symptoms.

When the moth visits other star orchids to feed again, the pollen rubs off and pollinates those orchids.

The tops of tall liquidambars lopped off to make way for an expanded roof line.

There is another option, a southern route for the highway that would actually serve more people currently cut off from the world.

She cut off the large leaves and cleaned the stringy stalks with a paring knife.

Here are four quick recipes that show off milks, both plain and flavored, in all their timeless glory.

Peel the backing off the contact paper and stick the design on the globe, smoothing out as many bubbles as possible.

Next, tape off the pattern with thin painter's tape.

Clerestory windows bounce the light off the ceiling, brightening the space.

More and more, the faithful and religious people are flocking to pilgrimage sites on and off the beaten path.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

a suffixal use of the adverb off, forming nouns that denote competitions, especially between the finalists of earlier competitions or as a means of deciding a tie: cookoff; playoff; runoff.

offered.

office.

officer.

official.

Link To off

Collins

World English Dictionary

off (ɒf)

—*prep*
1.	used to indicate actions in which contact is absent or rendered absent, as between an object and a surface: to lift a cup off the table
2.	used to indicate the removal of something that is or has been appended to or in association with something else: to take the tax off potatoes
3.	out of alignment with: we are off course
4.	situated near to or leading away from: just off the High Street
5.	not inclined towards: I'm off work; I've gone off you

—*adv*
6.	(particle) so as to be deactivated or disengaged: turn off the radio
7.	(particle)
	a. so as to get rid of: sleep off a hangover
	b. so as to be removed from, esp as a reduction: he took ten per cent off
8.	spent away from work or other duties: take the afternoon off
9.	a. on a trip, journey, or race: I saw her off at the station
	b. (particle) so as to be completely absent, used up, or exhausted: this stuff kills off all vermin
10.	out from the shore or land: the ship stood off
11.	a. out of contact; at a distance: the ship was 10 miles off
	b. out of the present location: the girl ran off
12.	away in the future: August is less than a week off
13.	(particle) so as to be no longer taking place: the match has been rained off
14.	(particle) removed from contact with something, as clothing from the body: the girl took all her clothes off
15.	offstage: noises off
16.	commerce (used with a preceding number) indicating the number of items required or produced: please supply 100 off
17.	off and on, on and off occasionally; intermittently: he comes here off and on
18.	(interjection) off with a command, often peremptory, or an exhortation to remove or cut off (something specified): off with his head; off with that coat, my dear

—*adj*
19.	not on; no longer operative: the off position on the dial
20.	(postpositive) not or no longer taking place; cancelled or postponed: the meeting is off
21.	in a specified condition regarding money, provisions, etc: well off; how are you off for bread?
22.	unsatisfactory or disappointing: his performance was rather off; an off year for good tennis
23.	(postpositive) in a condition as specified: I'd be better off without this job
24.	(postpositive) no longer on the menu; not being served at the moment: sorry, love, haddock is off
25.	(postpositive) (of food or drink) having gone bad, sour, etc: this milk is off

—n
26.	cricket
	a. Compare leg the part of the field on that side of the pitch to which the batsman presents his bat when taking strike: thus for a right-hander, off is on the right-hand side
	b. (in combination) a fielding position in this part of the field: mid-off
	c. (as modifier): the off stump

—vb
27.	(tr) to kill (someone)

usage In standard English, off is not followed by of: he stepped off (not off of) the platform

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

off

by c.1200 as an emphatic form of O.E. of (see of), employed in the adverbial use of that word. The prepositional meaning "away from" and the adj. sense of "farther" were not firmly fixed in this variant until 17c., but once they were they left the original of with the transf.

EXPAND

and weakened senses of the word. Meaning "not working" is from 1861; verb sense of "to kill" first attested 1930. Off the cuff (1938) is from the notion of speaking from notes written in haste on one's shirt cuffs. Off the rack (adj.) is from 1963; off the record is from 1933; off the wall "crazy" is 1968, probably from the notion of a lunatic "bouncing off the walls" or else in ref. to carom shots in squash, handball, etc.

COLLAPSE

Slang Dictionary

off definition

mod.
alcohol or drug intoxicated. : She is truly off.
tv.
to dispose of someone or something; to kill someone. : The crooks offed the witness before the trial.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

off (one's) definition

mod.
crazy; out of one's head. : Don't pay any attention to her. She's off her nut.
mod.
alcohol intoxicated. : Those guys are so off their nuts!

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

off

In addition to the idioms beginning with off, also see back off; bad off; beat off; beat the pants off; beg off; be off; better off; bite off more than one can chew; bite someone's head off; blast off; blow off; blow off steam; blow the lid off; bore to death (the pants off); branch off; break off; bring off; browned off; brush off; bug off; bump off; burn off; buy off; buzz off; call off; cap it all (off); carry off; cart off; cast off; change off; charge off; check off; cheesed off; chip off the old block; choke off; clear out (off); come off; come off it; cool down (off); cool off; count off; cry off; cut off; cut off one's nose; dash off; day off; die off; doze off; drop off; dust off; ease off; easy as pie (rolling off a log); fall away (off); fat of the land, live off the; fight off; fire off; first off; fish or cut bait (shit or get off); fly off the handle; fob off; fuck off; get off; get off on; get off one's tail; get off the dime; get off the ground; give off; give the shirt off one's back; go off; go off the deep end; goof off; hands off; hats off to; haul off; have it (off); head off; high off the hog; hit it off; hold off; hot off the press; jerk off; jumping-off place; keep off; kick off; kill off; kiss off; knock it off; knock off; knock someone's block off; knock the socks off; laugh off; lay off; lead off; leave off; let off; level off; lift off; like a chicken with its head cut off; like water off a duck's back; load off one's mind; log in (off); make off; mouth off; nod off; no skin off one's nose; on (off) camera; on (off) duty; on the (off) chance; pack off; pair off; palm off; pants off; pass off; pay off; peel off; pick off; piss off; play off; polish off; pull off; push off; put off; put someone off; quick off the mark; rake off; rattle off; right away (off); rip off; round off; rub off; run away (off); run off; run off at the mouth; run off with; rush off one's feet; seal off; see someone off; sell off; send off; set off; shake off; shoot off one's mouth; show off; shrug off; sign off; slack off; slip out (off); sound off; spin off; split one's sides (laugh one's head off); sponge on (off); square off; squeeze off; stand off; stave off; stop off; straight off; swear off; switch on (off); tail off; take off; take off after; take the edge off; take up where one left off; talk someone's arm off; taper off; tear off; tee off; tell off; tell someone where to get off; throw off; trade off; wipe off the map. Also see under on.

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Idioms & Phrases

off

back off

bad off

beat off

beat the pants off

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"Vodka is our enemy, so let's finish it off."

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