OFF - 20 definitions found
off adj 1: not in operation or operational; "the oven is off"; "the lights are off" [ant: on] 2: below a satisfactory level; "an off year for tennis"; "his performance was off" 3: (of events) no longer planned or scheduled; "the wedding is definitely off" [syn: off, cancelled] [ant: on] 4: in an unpalatable state; "sour milk" [syn: off, sour, turned] 5: not performing or scheduled for duties; "He's off every Tuesday" v 1: kill intentionally and with premeditation; "The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered" [syn: murder, slay, hit, dispatch, bump off, off, polish off, remove] adv 1: from a particular thing or place or position (`forth' is obsolete); "ran away from the lion"; "wanted to get away from there"; "sent the children away to boarding school"; "the teacher waved the children away from the dead animal"; "went off to school"; "they drove off"; "go forth and preach" [syn: away, off, forth] 2: at a distance in space or time; "the boat was 5 miles off (or away)"; "the party is still 2 weeks off (or away)"; "away back in the 18th century" [syn: off, away] 3: no longer on or in contact or attached; "clean off the dirt"; "he shaved off his mustache" off - of off ɔf v. phr. To exploit parasitically; depend upon for support. He is already forty years old, but he refuses to go to work and sponges off his retired parents. v. phr. To cause to flee; frighten away. Jake is a confirmed bachelor; the best way to scare him off is to start talking about marriage. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) off I. adverb Etymology: Middle English of, from Old English — more at of Date: before 12th century 1. a. (1) from a place or position <march off>; specifically away from land <ship stood off to sea> (2) at a distance in space or time <stood 10 paces off> <a long way off> b. from a course ; aside <turned off into a bypath>; specifically away from the wind c. into an unconscious state <dozed off> 2. a. so as to be separated from support <rolled to the edge of the table and off> or close contact <blew the lid off> <the handle came off> b. so as to be divided <surface marked off into squares> 3. a. to a state of discontinuance or suspension <shut off an engine> b. — used as an intensifier <drink off a glass> <finish it off> 4. in absence from or suspension of regular work or service <take time off for lunch> 5. offstage II. preposition Date: before 12th century 1. a. — used as a function word to indicate physical separation or distance from a position of rest, attachment, or union <take it off the table> <a path off the main walk> <a shop just off the main street> b. to seaward of <two miles off shore> 2. from the possession or charge of <had his wallet stolen off him> 3. — used as a function word to indicate the object of an action <borrowed a dollar off him> <dined off oysters> 4. a. — used as a function word to indicate the suspension of an occupation or activity <off duty> <off liquor> b. below the usual standard or level of <off his game> III. adjective Date: 1666 1. a. seaward b. right c. more removed or distant <the off side of the building> 2. a. started on the way <off on a spree> b. not taking place or staying in effect ; canceled <the deal was off> c. not operating d. not placed so as to permit operation 3. a. not corresponding to fact ; incorrect <off in his reckoning> b. poor, subnormal c. not entirely sane ; eccentric d. remote, slight <an off chance> 4. a. spent off duty <reading on his off days> b. marked by a periodic decline in activity or business <traveled in the off season for lower prices> 5. a. off-color b. inferior <off grade of oil>; also affected with putrefaction c. down <stocks were off> 6. circumstanced <worse off> IV. verb Date: 1717 intransitive verb to go away ; depart — used chiefly as an imperative <off, or I'll shoot> transitive verb slang kill, murder V. abbreviation office; officer; official Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary off Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Note: In addition to the uses shown below, 'off' is used after some verbs and nouns in order to introduce extra information. 'Off' is also used in phrasal verbs such as 'get off', 'pair off', and 'sleep off'. 1. If something is taken off something else or moves off it, it is no longer touching that thing. He took his feet off the desk... I took the key for the room off a rack above her head... Hugh wiped the rest of the blood off his face with his handkerchief. = from PREP • Off is also an adverb. Lee broke off a small piece of orange and held it out to him... His exhaust fell off six laps from the finish. ADV: ADV after v 2. When you get off a bus, train, or plane, you come out of it or leave it after you have been travelling on it. Don't try to get on or off a moving train!... As he stepped off the aeroplane, he was shot dead. ≠ on PREP • Off is also an adverb. At the next stop the man got off too and introduced himself. ADV: ADV after v 3. If you keep off a street or piece of land, you do not step on it or go there. Locking up men does nothing more than keep them off the streets... The local police had warned visitors to keep off the beach at night. PREP • Off is also an adverb. ...a sign saying 'Keep Off'. ADV 4. If something is situated off a place such as a coast, room, or road, it is near to it or next to it, but not exactly in it. The boat was anchored off the northern coast of the peninsula... Lily lives in a penthouse just off Park Avenue... PREP 5. If you go off, you leave a place. He was just about to drive off when the secretary came running out... She gave a hurried wave and set off across the grass... She was off again. Last year she had been to Kenya. This year it was Goa... When his master's off traveling, Caleb stays with Pierre's parents. ADV: ADV after v, be ADV, oft ADV -ing 6. When you take off clothing or jewellery that you are wearing, you remove it from your body. He took off his spectacles and rubbed frantically at the lens... He hastily stripped off his old uniform and began pulling on the new one. ADV: ADV after v 7. If you have time off or a particular day off, you do not go to work or school, for example because you are ill or it is a day when you do not usually work. The rest of the men had the day off... She was sacked for demanding Saturdays off... I'm off tomorrow... The average Swede was off sick 27 days last year. ADV: usu n ADV, also be ADV • Off is also a preposition. He could not get time off work to go on holiday. PREP 8. If you keep off a subject, you deliberately avoid talking about it. Keep off the subject of politics... Keep the conversation off linguistic matters. PREP 9. If something such as an agreement or a sporting event is off, it is cancelled. Until Pointon is completely happy, however, the deal's off... Greenpeace refused to call off the event. ≠ on ADV: be ADV, ADV after v 10. If someone is off something harmful such as a drug, they have stopped taking or using it. She felt better and the psychiatrist took her off drug therapy... PREP 11. If you are off something, you have stopped liking it. I'm off coffee at the moment... Diarrhoea can make you feel weak, as well as putting you off your food. PREP 12. When something such as a machine or electric light is off, it is not functioning or in use. When you switch it off, you stop it functioning. As he pulled into the driveway, he saw her bedroom light was off... We used sail power and turned the engine off to save our fuel... The microphones had been switched off. ≠ on ADV: be ADV, ADV after v 13. If there is money off something, its price is reduced by the amount specified. ...Simons Leatherwear, 37 Old Christchurch Road. 20 per cent off all jackets this Saturday. ...discounts offering thousands of pounds off the normal price of a car. PREP: amount PREP n • Off is also an adverb. I'm prepared to knock five hundred pounds off but no more. ADV: ADV after v, v-link ADV, amount ADV 14. If something is a long way off, it is a long distance away from you. Florida was a long way off... Below you, though still 50 miles off, is the most treeless stretch of land imaginable. = away ADV: n/amount ADV 15. If something is a long time off, it will not happen for a long time. An end to the crisis seems a long way off... The required technology is probably still two years off. ADV: n/amount ADV 16. If you get something off someone, you obtain it from them. (SPOKEN) I don't really get a lot of information, and if I do I get it off Mark... 'Telmex' was bought off the government by a group of investors. = from PREP 17. If food has gone off, it tastes and smells bad because it is no longer fresh enough to be eaten. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use spoiled, bad) Don't eat that! It's mouldy. It's gone off! = bad ADJ: v-link ADJ 18. If you live off a particular kind of food, you eat it in order to live. If you live off a particular source of money, you use it to live. Her husband's memories are of living off roast chicken and drinking whisky... Antony had been living off the sale of his own paintings. = on PREP: v PREP n 19. If a machine runs off a particular kind of fuel or power, it uses that power in order to function. The Auto Compact Disc Cleaner can run off batteries or mains. PREP: v PREP n 20. If something happens on and off, or off and on, it happens occasionally, or only for part of a period of time, not in a regular or continuous way. I was still working on and off as a waitress to support myself... We lived together, off and on, for two years. PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR with cl English Explanatory Dictionary off ɔf adv., prep., adj., & n. --adv. 1 away; at or to a distance (drove off; is three miles off). 2 out of position; not on or touching or attached; loose, separate, gone (has come off; take your coat off). 3 so as to be rid of (sleep it off). 4 so as to break continuity or continuance; discontinued, stopped (turn off the radio; take a day off; the game is off). 5 not available as a choice, e.g. on a menu (chips are off). 6 to the end; entirely; so as to be clear (clear off; finish off; pay off). 7 situated as regards money, supplies, etc. (is badly off; is not very well off). 8 off-stage (noises off). 9 (of food etc.) beginning to decay. 10 (with preceding numeral) denoting a quantity produced or made at one time (esp. one-off). --prep. 1 a from; away or down or up from (fell off the chair; took something off the price; jumped off the edge). b not on (was already off the pitch). 2 a (temporarily) relieved of or abstaining from (off duty; am off my diet). b not attracted by for the time being (off their food; off smoking). c not achieving or doing one's best in (off form; off one's game). 3 using as a source or means of support (live off the land). 4 leading from; not far from (a street off the Strand). 5 at a short distance to sea from (sank off Cape Horn). --adj. 1 far, further (the off side of the wall). 2 (of a part of a vehicle, animal, or road) right (the off front wheel). 3 Cricket designating the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) to which the striker's feet are pointed. --n. 1 Cricket the off side. 2 the start of a race. øa bit off Brit. colloq. 1 rather annoying or unfair. 2 somewhat unwell (am feeling a bit off). off and on intermittently; now and then. off-centre not quite coinciding with a central position. the off chance see CHANCE. off colour 1 not in good health. 2 US somewhat indecent. off the cuff see CUFF(1). off-day a day when one is not at one's best. off-drive Cricket drive (the ball) to the off side. off one's feet see FOOT. off form see FORM. off guard see GUARD. off one's hands see HAND. off one's head see HEAD. off-key 1 out of tune. 2 not quite suitable or fitting. off-licence Brit. 1 a shop selling alcoholic drink for consumption elsewhere. 2 a licence for this. off limits see LIMIT. off-line Computing (of a computer terminal or process) not directly controlled by or connected to a central processor. off of sl. disp. = OFF prep. (picked it off of the floor). off-peak used or for use at times other than those of greatest demand. off the peg see PEG. off-piste (of skiing) away from prepared ski runs. off the point adj. irrelevant. --adv. irrelevantly. off-putting Brit. disconcerting; repellent. off the record see RECORD. off-road attrib.adj. 1 away from the road, on rough terrain. 2 (of a vehicle etc.) designed for rough terrain or for cross-country driving. off-season a time when business etc. is slack. off-stage adj. & adv. not on the stage and so not visible or audible to the audience. off-street (esp. of parking vehicles) other than on a street. off-time a time when business etc. is slack. off-the-wall sl. crazy, absurd, outlandish. off-white white with a grey or yellowish tinge. [orig. var. of OF, to distinguish the sense] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Off \Off\, adv. [OE. of, orig. the same word as R. of, prep., AS. of, adv. & prep. [root]194. See Of.] In a general sense, denoting from or away from; as: 1. Denoting distance or separation; as, the house is a mile off. 2. Denoting the action of removing or separating; separation; as, to take off the hat or cloak; to cut off, to pare off, to clip off, to peel off, to tear off, to march off, to fly off, and the like. 3. Denoting a leaving, abandonment, departure, abatement, interruption, or remission; as, the fever goes off; the pain goes off; the game is off; all bets are off. 4. Denoting a different direction; not on or towards: away; as, to look off. 5. Denoting opposition or negation. [Obs.] The questions no way touch upon puritanism, either off or on. --Bp. Sanderson. From off, off from; off. ``A live coal . . . taken with the tongs from off the altar.'' --Is. vi. 6. Off and on. (a) Not constantly; not regularly; now and then; occasionally. (b) (Naut.) On different tacks, now toward, and now away from, the land. To be off. (a) To depart; to escape; as, he was off without a moment's warning. (b) To be abandoned, as an agreement or purpose; as, the bet was declared to be off. [Colloq.] To come off, To cut off, To fall off, To go off, etc. See under Come, Cut, Fall, Go, etc. To get off. (a) To utter; to discharge; as, to get off a joke. (b) To go away; to escape; as, to get off easily from a trial. [Colloq.] To take off, to mimic or personate. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Off \Off\, interj. Away; begone; -- a command to depart. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Off \Off\, prep. Not on; away from; as, to be off one's legs or off the bed; two miles off the shore. --Addison. Off hand. See Offhand. Off side (Football), out of play; -- said when a player has got in front of the ball in a scrimmage, or when the ball has been last touched by one of his own side behind him. To be off color, to be of a wrong color. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Off \Off\, a. 1. On the farther side; most distant; on the side of an animal or a team farthest from the driver when he is on foot; in the United States, the right side; as, the off horse or ox in a team, in distinction from the nigh or near horse or ox; the off leg. 2. Designating a time when one is not strictly attentive to business or affairs, or is absent from his post, and, hence, a time when affairs are not urgent; as, he took an off day for fishing: an off year in politics. ``In the off season.'' --Thackeray. Off side. (a) The right hand side in driving; the farther side. See Gee. (b) (Cricket) See Off, n. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Off \Off\, n. (Cricket) The side of the field that is on the right of the wicket keeper. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Edge \Edge\, v. i. 1. To move sideways; to move gradually; as, edge along this way. 2. To sail close to the wind. I must edge up on a point of wind. --Dryden. To edge away or off (Naut.), to increase the distance gradually from the shore, vessel, or other object. To edge down (Naut.), to approach by slow degrees, as when a sailing vessel approaches an object in an oblique direction from the windward. To edge in, to get in edgewise; to get in by degrees. To edge in with, as with a coast or vessel (Naut.), to advance gradually, but not directly, toward it. OFF Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms off I. prep. 1. Not on, not upon. 2. Against, opposite, opposite to, distant from, along, facing. II. a. 1. Most distant, on the farther side. 2. Right side, right hand. III. ad. 1. Away. 2. From, away. 3. Over, done. English Explanatory Dictionary (Synonyms) off ɔf adv. 1 away, out, elsewhere: His secretary said that he'd gone off for the weekend. 2 distant, away, afar, far-off: The U-boat was a mile off. Christmas is only a month off. --adj. 3 incorrect, wrong, inaccurate, in error, mistaken, misguided, misled, off the mark: I'm afraid you're off on the question of the best way to approach him. 4 mad, insane, crazy, eccentric, touched (in the head), Colloq dotty, dippy, nutty, potty: Underwood's aunt is slightly off. 5 remote, distant, improbable, unlikely: He went to the station on the off chance that she would be on the midday train. 6 off work, at leisure, idle, free, open; on holiday: Can you get the day off tomorrow to go on a picnic with me? 7 sour, mouldy, bad, rotten, rancid, turned, high: The cream smells a bit off. 8 bad, unpropitious, disappointing, unsatisfactory, disheartening, displeasing, slack, slow, substandard, below par, below average, quiet: It has been an off year for the local football team. 9 cancelled, postponed: The meeting is off till next week. 10 situated, fixed, supplied: Is he really that well off? She was much worse off when they were married. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 332 Moby Thesaurus words for "off": aberrant, abnormal, abroad, absonant, absurd, adrift, adulterated, all abroad, all off, all wrong, aloof, amiss, askew, astray, at a distance, at fault, at leisure, at liberty, at loose ends, atonal, available, away, awry, babbling, barring, below par, below standard, below the mark, bereft of reason, beside the mark, blast, blemished, blot out, blown, brainsick, bump off, cacophonous, casual, clockwise, conservative, contrasting, corrupt, counter, crackbrained, cracked, crazed, crazy, croak, curious, daft, damaged, deceptive, defective, deficient, delirious, deluded, delusive, demented, deprived of reason, deranged, deviant, deviational, deviative, dexter, dextral, dextrocardial, dextrocerebral, dextrocular, dextrogyrate, dextrogyratory, dextropedal, dextrorotary, dextrorse, diaphonic, different, disconsonant, discordant, discounting, disengaged, disharmonic, disharmonious, disoriented, disparate, dissimilar, dissonant, distantly, distorted, distraught, divergent, diverse, dizzy, do in, down, eccentric, erase, errant, erring, erroneous, except, excepting, exception taken of, excluding, exclusive of, extra, fallacious, fallible, fallow, false, fat, faultful, faulty, fix, flat, flawed, flighty, forth, found wanting, freaked out, freaky, free, from, frowy, funny, gamy, get, giddy, give the business, grating, gun down, hallucinated, hardly like, harsh, hence, heretical, heterodox, high, hit, ice, idle, illogical, illusory, immature, immelodious, impaired, imperfect, imprecise, impure, in blue water, inaccurate, inadequate, incidental, incoherent, incomplete, inexact, inharmonic, inharmonious, insane, irrational, jobless, kooky, lacking, lay out, leaving out, leisure, leisured, less, lightheaded, loco, lumpen, lunatic, mad, maddened, makeshift, manic, mazed, mediocre, mental, mentally deficient, meshuggah, minus, mixed, moon-struck, musicless, negligible, non compos, non compos mentis, nonmelodious, nonuniform, not all there, not counting, not perfect, not right, not true, occasional, oceanward, oceanwards, odd, oddball, of unsound mind, off duty, off soundings, off the track, off the wall, off work, off-key, off-tone, offbeat, offshore, otiose, out, out of employ, out of harness, out of pitch, out of soundings, out of tone, out of tune, out of work, out-of-the-way, outlandish, outside, over, part-time, partial, passing strange, patchy, peccant, peculiar, perverse, perverted, polish off, psycho, quaint, queer, rambling, rancid, rank, ranting, raucous, raving, reactionary, reasonless, reechy, remotely, right, right-hand, right-wing, right-wingish, rub out, save, scarcely like, seaward, seawards, self-contradictory, senseless, settle, sharp, short, shrill, sick, side, singular, sketchy, slack, slender, slight, slim, sluggish, small, sour, soured, spare, stale, starboard, stark-mad, stark-staring mad, strange, straying, strident, strong, substandard, tainted, take care of, tetched, thence, therefrom, thereof, touched, tuneless, turned, unalike, unbalanced, undeveloped, unearthly, unemployable, unemployed, uneven, unfactual, unfinished, unharmonious, unhinged, unidentical, unlike, unmatched, unmelodious, unmusical, unoccupied, unorthodox, unperfected, unproved, unresembling, unsame, unsane, unsettled, unsimilar, unsound, unthorough, untrue, untunable, untuned, untuneful, wandering, wanting, waste, weird, whence, wide, wipe out, without, witless, wondrous strange, wrong, zap |
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