take off
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: takes off
form: taking off
form: took off
form: taken off
Senses: examples: text: He took off his shoes.
text: The test grader takes off a point for every misspelled word.
text: Tomorrow the doctor will take the cast off her arm.
text: Sounds nice. Has a certain ring to it. Take your shirt off.
ref: 1980, Lee Sheldon, “Three for the Money”, in George McCowan, director, Charlie's Angels, season 4, episode 23, via ABC:
text: The Russian bear has always been eager to stick his paw in Latin American waters. Now we've got him in a trap, let's take his leg off right up to his testicles. On second thought, let's take off his testicles, too.
ref: 1995, Richard Rhodes, quoting Curtis LeMay, “Scorpions in a Bottle”, in Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 574:
text: By March 1994, it had moved to Cardiff Canton, and was still allocated there when its nameplates were taken off in March 1997.
ref: 2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in Rail, number 1000, page 27:
glosses: To remove.
examples: text: Yes, the Peaches, on a nearly non-existent budget, lack professionalism. The basic format of this show — taking off on television, with a soap opera, a quiz show, news, a cooking class and commercials for KY and grass, etc. — resembles kids getting up a skit.
ref: 1978 April 22, Robert Chesley, “The Return Of The Peaches”, in Gay Community News, page 12:
text: Pym would take him off perfectly, thought Brotherhood. Pym would catch that accent to a tee.
ref: 1986, John Le Carré, A Perfect Spy, Sceptre, published 2011, page 365:
glosses: To imitate (somebody), often in a satirical manner.
examples: text: The plane has been cleared to take off from runway 3.
text: That high-jumper takes off from her left foot.
text: Mute swans need a long stretch of water in order to take off.
glosses: To leave the ground and ascend into the air or into flight.
examples: text: You take off, make the steep drop, hear the white water rumbling behind you and feel the spray on your back.
ref: 1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
surfing
glosses: To stand up on a surfboard and begin to surf a breaking wave.
examples: text: The business has really taken off this year and has made quite a profit.
text: 2007 July 12, The Guardian, A welcome invasion.
The message is now the medium – that is powerful and means products can take off practically all by themselves.
text: As well as the boom in off-peak leisure numbers, "there has been a big spike in passenger assistance - that's really taken off as well", he continues. "We're probably victims of our own success because we promote this more than we ever used to. We promote how accessible the railways are. I think that this area has more than doubled from pre-COVID levels.
ref: 2023 November 1, Nick Brodrick talks to Jason Cocker, “A station that "oozes" customer service...”, in RAIL, number 995, pages 52-53:
glosses: To become successful, to flourish.
examples: text: I'm going to take off now.
text: Take off, loser!
text: It is so easy when problems arise in a relationship to just take off.
ref: 1976 February 14, KES, “Relationships Continued”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 33, page 5:
text: Ben threw twenty bucks on the table, grabbed the map and took off after the thief, following Susan who had run off before him.
ref: 2020, Armando Lazzari, Dinner with the Mafia:
glosses: To depart.
examples: text: I'll take off the concrete and steel for this construction project.
glosses: To quantify.
examples: text: If you take off for Thanksgiving you must work Christmas and vice versa.
text: He decided to let his mother take a night off from cooking, so he took her and his siblings out to dinner.
glosses: To absent oneself from (work or other responsibility), especially with permission.
glosses: To take drugs; to inject drugs.
glosses: To steal (something) or rob (someone).
examples: text: to take off a glass of wine
glosses: To swallow.
Synonyms: sense: remove clothing
word: doff
sense: imitate
word: ape
sense: imitate
word: imitate
sense: imitate
word: impersonate
sense: imitate
word: mimic
sense: become successful
word: bloom
sense: become successful
word: blossom
sense: become successful
word: flourish
sense: become successful
word: grow
sense: become successful
word: thrive
sense: depart
word: depart
Derived terms: word: take-off
word: takeoff
word: take off one's gloves
word: take one's hat off to
Related terms: to lift off