off
Part of speech: adv
adj
prep
verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
card-games
cricket
drugs
entertainment
games
hobbies
lifestyle
medicine
pharmacology
poker
sciences
sports
theater
Etymology: 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.
Inflected forms:
form: offn
pos: adv
tags: alternative
English
Scotland
US
regional
form: more off
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most off
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: offn
pos: adj
tags: alternative
English
Scotland
US
regional
form: offn
pos: prep
tags: alternative
English
Scotland
US
regional
form: offs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: offing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: offed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: offed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: offn
pos: verb
tags: alternative
English
Scotland
US
regional
form: offn
pos: noun
tags: alternative
English
Scotland
US
regional
Senses:
gloss: In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: 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 he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
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 in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
The Conception caught fire around 3:14 a.m. on Labor Day off Santa Cruz Island, about 20 miles away from the coast of mainland California. It was the last day of a three-day diving trip.
gloss: Into a state of non-operation or non-existence.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: Please switch off the light when you leave.
The dinosaurs died off long ago.
gloss: So as to remove or separate, or be removed or separated.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: He bit off the end of the carrot.
Some branches were sawn off.
Please take your clothes off so that I can examine you.
The space had been sectioned off with colorful plastic shelves so that her textbooks rested on the bottom and her binders and personal effects lay across the middle.
gloss: Offstage.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: noises off
gloss: 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.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Inoperative, disabled.
pos: adj
tags: predicative
examples: All the lights are off.
gloss: Cancelled; not happening.
pos: adj
tags: predicative
examples: The party's off because the hostess is sick.
gloss: Not fitted; not being worn.
pos: adj
examples: Your feet will feel better once those tight boots are off.
The drink spilled out of the bottle because the top was off.
gloss: Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
pos: adj
tags: predicative
examples: I felt that his comments were a bit off.
gloss: Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
pos: adj
examples: sales are off this quarter
gloss: Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
pos: adj
gloss: Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
pos: adj
tags: UK
examples: This milk is off!
gloss: Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
pos: adj
tags: Australia
broadly
slang
gloss: Circumstanced.
pos: adj
tags: usually
examples: 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
gloss: Started on the way.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
"But I'm off, Mr. Malone. We sit once a week and have done for four years without a break. Eight o'clock Thursdays."
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.
gloss: Far; off to the side.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Temporarily not attending a usual place, such as work or school, especially owing to illness or holiday.
pos: adj
examples: John's off today. He's back on Wednesday.
gloss: 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.
pos: adj
examples: He took an off day for fishing.  an off year in politics; the off season
gloss: Presently unavailable. (of a dish on a menu)
pos: adj
tags: predicative
examples: I'll have the chicken please. — Sorry, chicken's off today.
gloss: On the side furthest from the kerb (the right-hand side if one drives on the left).
pos: adj
tags: UK
examples: 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.
gloss: In, or towards the half of the field away from the batsman's legs; the right side for a right-handed batsman.
pos: adj
gloss: Offsuit.
pos: adj
tags: slang
gloss: Not positioned upon, or away from a position upon.
pos: prep
examples: He's off the roof now.
I took it off the table.
Keep off the grass.
gloss: Detached, separated, excluded or disconnected from; away from a position of attachment or connection to.
pos: prep
examples: The phone is off the hook
The coat fell off the peg.
He was thrown off the team for cheating.
We've been off the grid for three days now.
We're off their radar.
He's off the computer, but he's still on the phone.
gloss: Outside the area or region of.
pos: prep
examples: 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.
gloss: Temporarily not attending (a usual place), especially owing to illness or holiday.
pos: prep
examples: off work; off school
gloss: Used to indicate the location or direction of one thing relative to another, implying adjacency or accessibility via.
pos: prep
examples: 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!
gloss: Used to indicate the location or direction of one thing relative to another, implying adjacency or accessibility via.
pos: prep
examples: The island is 23 miles off the cape.
gloss: Removed or subtracted from.
pos: prep
examples: There's 20% off the list price.
gloss: No longer wanting or taking.
pos: prep
examples: He's been off his feed since Tuesday.
He's off his meds again.
gloss: Out of the possession of.
pos: prep
tags: colloquial
examples: He didn't buy it off him. He stole it off him.
gloss: Placed after a number (of products or parts, as if a unit), in commerce or engineering.
pos: prep
examples: 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
gloss: Under the influence of.
pos: prep
tags: slang
examples: The guy was off a perc.
gloss: As a result of.
pos: prep
tags: informal
examples: The team won off a late-game fumble by an opposing player.
The economy is rising off the strength of the tech sector.
gloss: To kill.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To switch off.
pos: verb
tags: Nigeria
Philippines
Singapore
transitive
examples: Can you off the light?
gloss: Beginning; starting point.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: He has been very obviously an untrustworthy narrator right from the off.
2023 Royal Ascot suit ... are you ready for the off?(title)
Synonyms: away
out
Antonyms: in
on
Derived words: off and running
offish
offness
off to the races
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
trip off the tongue
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: -sta
lang: Finnish
word: -lta
lang: Swedish
word: utanför
lang: Swedish
word: vid