off

Beginning; starting point.

Adjective

  1. Inoperative, disabled.
    • All the lights are off.

    Antonyms: on

  2. Cancelled; not happening.
    • The party's off because the hostess is sick.
  3. Not fitted; not being worn.
    • Your feet will feel better once those tight boots are off.
    • The drink spilled out of the bottle because the top was off.
  4. Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
    • This calculation is off: the numbers don't add up.
    • Is it right to say 'the amount of cars'? It sounds off to me.
    • The guitar isn't tuned properly. The bottom E is off.

    1. Not correct; not properly formed; not logical, harmonious, etc.

    2. (predicative only) Inappropriate; untoward.

      • I felt that his comments were a bit off.

    3. Less than normal, in temperament or in result.

      • sales are off this quarter

    4. (in phrases such as 'off day') Designating a time when one is not performing to the best of one's abilities.

    5. (chiefly UK) Rancid, rotten, gone bad.

      • This milk is off!

      Antonyms: fresh

    6. (by extension, Australia, slang) Disgusting, repulsive, abhorrent.

  5. Circumstanced.
    • Our family used to be well off; now we're very badly off.
    • How are you off for milk? Shall I get you some more from the shop?
    • '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 - 2008, Kiron K. Skinner...
  6. Started on the way.
    • off to see the wizard
    • And they're off! Whatsmyname takes an early lead, with Remember The Mane behind by a nose.
    • —Hello, Bloom. Where are you off to? —Hello, M’Coy. Nowhere in particular. - 1922, James Joyce, chapter V, in Ulysses:
  7. Far; off to the side.
    • He took me down the corridor and into an off room.
    • the off horse or ox in a team, in distinction from the nigh or near horse
    • He came in, took a look and squinched down into a chair in an off corner and didn’t open his mouth. - 1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Harper Perennial, published 2000, page 151:
  8. Temporarily not attending a usual place, such as work or school, especially owing to illness or holiday.
    • John's off today. He's back on Wednesday.
  9. 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 politics; the off season
  10. Presently unavailable. (of a dish on a menu)
    • I'll have the chicken please. — Sorry, chicken's off today.
  11. On the side furthest from the kerb (the right-hand side if one drives on the left).
    • The off front wheel came loose.
    • The man and the horse came closer and were Sonny Jacobs of the Diamond Six and a smallish neat sorrel definitely favouring its off forefoot. - 1963, Jack Schaefer, Monte Walsh, page 174:

    Antonyms: near nigh

  12. In, or towards the half of the field away from the batsman's legs; the right side for a right-handed batsman.

    Antonyms: on leg

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Proto-West Germanic *ab Old English æf Old English of Middle English of English off From Middle English of, from Old English of, af, æf (“from, off, away”), from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“from, off, back”). Doublet of of. Cognates Cognate with Scots aff (“away, off”), Saterland Frisian oawe, ou (“from”), West Frisian ôf (“away, off”), Dutch af (“from, off”), German ab (“from, off”), German Low German, Luxembourgish of (“off”), Yiddish אָפּ (op, “off”), Danish, Icelandic af (“from, off”), Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk av (“off”), Swedish af, av (“off”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af, “of, from”); and with Latin ab (“of, from, by”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), and others.

Forms

more off most off offn

Derived

off and running offish offness off to the races

Adverb

  1. In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point.
    • He drove off in a cloud of smoke.
    • 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...
    • So this was my future home, I thought![…]Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it...
  2. Into a state of non-operation or non-existence.
    • Please switch off the light when you leave.
    • The dinosaurs died off long ago.
  3. So as to remove or separate, or be removed or separated.
    • He bit off the end of the carrot.
    • Some branches were sawn off.
    • Please take your clothes off so that I can examine you.
  4. Offstage.
    • noises off
  5. Used in various other ways specific to individual idiomatic phrases, e.g. bring off, show off, put off, tell off, etc. See the entry for the individual phrase.

Forms

offn

Synonyms

away out

Antonyms

in on

Derived

air off auto-off back off bag off bake off ball it off ball off base off bawl off beggar off begger off bid off bird off bite off bite someone's hand off blastoff blob off boiloff bomb off booger off book off boom off bounce off brass off

Noun

  1. Beginning; starting point.
    • He has been very obviously an untrustworthy narrator right from the off.
    • 2023 Royal Ascot suit ... are you ready for the off?(title) - 2022 December 1, “2023 Royal Ascot suit ... are you ready for the off?”, in anthonyformalwear.co.uk, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2022:

Forms

offn

Preposition

  1. Not positioned upon, or away from a position upon.
    • He's off the roof now.
    • I took it off the table.
    • Keep off the grass.
  2. Detached, separated, excluded or disconnected from; away from a position of attachment or connection to.
    • The phone is off the hook
    • The coat fell off the peg.
    • He was thrown off the team for cheating.
  3. Outside the area or region of.
    • The suspect is now believed to be off the campus.
    • I couldn't see what it said because the line of text ran off the page.
  4. Temporarily not attending (a usual place), especially owing to illness or holiday.
    • off work; off school
  5. Used to indicate the location or direction of one thing relative to another, implying adjacency or accessibility via.
    • His office is off this corridor on the right.
    • We're just off the main road.
    • Look! There's a UFO off our left wing!

    1. Used to express location at sea relative to land or mainland.

      • The island is 23 miles off the cape.
  6. Removed or subtracted from.
    • There's 20% off the list price.
  7. No longer wanting or taking.
    • He's been off his feed since Tuesday.
    • He's off his meds again.
  8. Out of the possession of.
    • He didn't buy it off him. He stole it off him.
  9. Placed after a number (of products or parts, as if a unit), in commerce or engineering.
    • I'd like to re-order those printer cartridges, let's say 5-off.
    • Tantalum bar 6 off 3/8" Dia × 12" — Atom, Great Britain Atomic Energy Authority, 1972
    • samples submitted … 12 off Thermistors type 1K3A531 … — BSI test report for shock and vibration testing, 2000
  10. Under the influence of.
    • The guy was off a perc.
  11. As a result of.
    • The team won off a late-game fumble by an opposing player.
    • The economy is rising off the strength of the tech sector.

Forms

offn

Antonyms

on

Derived

fall off the ugly tree off-by-one off-campus off-lease off-licence off one's face off one's feed off one's game off one's nut off one's rocker off-sale off-street off the dome off the lay off the scale off the shelf off-the-shelf off the top of one's head off-trade offy once-off priced-off roll off one's tongue run off the tongue

Verb

  1. To kill.
    • Most sorely missed is the relationship between Eggsy and Colin Firth’s delightfully avuncular mentor figure Harry Hart, who was offed, seemingly definitively with a bullet to the brain towards its end. - 2017 September...
  2. To switch off.
    • Can you off the light?

Forms

offs offing offed offn