Off
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /É’f/
- US IPA: /ɔf/, /ɑf/
- Rhymes: -É’f
Origin
Cognate with Latin ab and Greek apo.
Full definition of off
Adverb
off
- In a direction away from the speaker or object.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or.... And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
- He drove off in a cloud of smoke.
- Into a state of non-operation; into a state of non-existence.Please switch off the light when you leave. die off
Usage notes
Used in many , off is an adverbial particle often mistakenly thought of as a preposition. (It can be used as a preposition, but such usage is rare and usually informal; see below.)
Derived terms
Adjective
off
- Inoperative, disabled.All the lights are off.
- Rancid, rotten.This milk is off!
- (cricket) In, or towards the half of the field away from the batsman's legs; the right side for a right-handed batsman.
- Less than normal, in temperament or in result.sales are off this quarter
- Circumstanced (as in well off, better off, poorly off).
- 2008, Kiron K. Skinner, The Strategy of Campaigning, 'Are you better off now than you were four years ago?' With that pointed question, Ronald Reagan defined the 1980 presidential election as a 92 referendum on Jimmy Carter's economic policies
- Started on the way.
- 1990, Peter Pinney, The glass cannon: a Bougainville diary, 1944-45, Let them glimpse a green man coming at them with intent, and they're off like a bride's nighty. Even after capture some of them will seize every attempt to suicide — they just can't live with the tremendous loss of face.
- off to see the wizardAnd they're off! Whatsmyname takes an early lead, with Remember The Mane behind by a nose.
- Far; off to the side.the off horse or ox in a team, in distinction from the nigh or near horse
- 1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Harper Perennial (2000), page 151:He came in, took a look and squinched down into a chair in an off corner and didn’t open his mouth.
- Designating a time when one is not strictly attentive to business or affairs, or is absent from a post, and, hence, a time when affairs are not urgent.He took an off day for fishing.an off year in politicsthe off season
Derived terms
Preposition
- Used to indicate movement away from a position onI took it off the table.; Come off the roof!
- (colloquial) Out of the possession of.He didn't buy it off him. He stole it off him.
- Away from or not on.He's off the computer, but he's still on the phone.; Keep off the grass.
- Disconnected or subtracted from.We've been off the grid for three days now.; He took 20% off the list price.
- Distant from.We're just off the main road.; ''The island is 23 miles off the cape.
- No longer wanting or taking.He's been off his feed since Tuesday.; He's off his meds again.
- Placed after a number (of products or parts, as if a unit), in commerce or engineering.Tantalum bar 6 off 3/8" Dia × 12" — Atom, Great Britain Atomic Energy Authority, 1972samples submitted … 12 off Thermistors type 1K3A531 … — BSI test report for shock and vibration testing, 2000I'd like to re-order those printer cartridges, let's say 5-off.