off

Alternative forms

• (US regional, English regional, Scottish) offn

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒf/, (obsolete) /ɔːf/
• (General American) enPR: ŏf, IPA^(key): /ɔf/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɑf/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ɒf/, [ɔːf]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -ɒf, (older Received Pronunciation, General American) -ɔːf, (cot–caught merger) -ɑf

Adverb

off (not comparable)

1. In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:

     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.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     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.

   He drove off in a cloud of smoke.

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.

   • 2010, Jo Whittemore, Front Page Face-Off, page 113:

     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.

4. (theater) 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.

Adjective

off (comparative more off, superlative most off)

1. (predicative only) Inoperative, disabled.

   Antonym: on

   All the lights are off.

2. (predicative only) 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.
   1. Not correct; not properly formed; not logical, harmonious, 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.

   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.

      Antonym: fresh

      This milk is off!

   6. (by extension, Australia, slang) Disgusting, repulsive, abhorrent.
5. (in phrases such as 'well off', 'poorly off', etc., and in 'how?' questions) 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?

   • 2008, Kiron K. Skinner with Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Serhiy Kudelia, 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

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.

   • 1922, James Joyce, chapter V, in Ulysses‎:

     —Hello, Bloom. Where are you off to?
     —Hello, M’Coy. Nowhere in particular.

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "But I'm off, Mr. Malone. We sit once a week and have done for four years without a break. Eight o'clock Thursdays."

   • 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.

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

   • 1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Harper Perennial, published 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.

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.

   1. (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (informal, predicative only) Unavailable; unable to stay in a band or come to a club due to being busy with activities or schedules.

      The singer is off. He can't come today.

10. 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

11. (predicative only) Presently unavailable. (of a dish on a menu)

    — I'll have the chicken please.

    — Sorry, chicken's off today.

12. (British, in relation to a vehicle) On the side furthest from the kerb (the right-hand side if one drives on the left).
    • 1963, Jack Schaefer, Monte Walsh, page 174:

      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.

    The off front wheel came loose.

    Antonyms: near, nigh

13. (cricket) 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

Preposition

off

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.

   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.

   1. Temporarily not attending (a usual place), especially owing to illness or holiday.

      off work; off school

3. 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.

4. Removed or subtracted from.

   There's 20% off the list price.

5. No longer wanting or taking.

   He's been off his feed since Tuesday.

   He's off his meds again.

6. (colloquial, more properly 'from') Out of the possession of.

   He didn't buy it off him. He stole it off him.

7. 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, 1972

   samples submitted … 12 off Thermistors type 1K3A531 … — BSI test report for shock and vibration testing, 2000

   I'd like to re-order those printer cartridges, let's say 5-off.

8. (slang, drugs) Under the influence of.

   The guy was off a perc.

9. (informal) 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.

Verb

off (third-person singular simple present offs, present participle offing, simple past and past participle offed)

1. (transitive, slang) To kill.
   • 2017 September 19, Gwilym Mumford, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – spy sequel reaches new heights of skyscraping silliness”, in the Guardian‎:

     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.

2. (transitive, Singapore, Philippines, Nigeria) To switch off.

   Can you off the light?

Noun

off (uncountable)

1. (usually in phrases such as 'from the off', 'at the off', etc.) Beginning; starting point.

   He has been very obviously an untrustworthy narrator right from the off.

   • 2022 December 1, “2023 Royal Ascot suit ... are you ready for the off?”, in anthonyformalwear.co.uk‎, archived from the original on 24 January 2022:

     2023 Royal Ascot suit ... are you ready for the off?(title)

References

• off on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• “off”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• FFO

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔf/

Etymology 1

Chiefly through German oft, from Middle High German ofte, from Old High German ofta, from Proto-Germanic *ufta.

Etymology 2

Etymology

From English off.

Pronunciation

Verb

off

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, intransitive) to have day off
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, transitive) to switch off; to turn off

Adjective

off (indeclinable, predicative only)

1. (Internet slang, especially video games) Clipping of offline.

   Coordinate term: on

   ich muss gleich off gehen

   i have to log off in a sec

Etymology

From Old Limburgish ova, from Proto-Germanic *jabai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔf/
• Homophone: Off
• Rhymes: -ɔf

Conjunction

off (Eupen)

1. (coordinating) or
2. (subordinating) Introduces an indirect question, a doubt. if, whether.
3. (off ... off) either ... or

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English off.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈof/ [ˈof]
• Rhymes: -of

Adjective

off (invariable)

1. off-screen
2. (theater) off-Broadway; minor-league; small-time

Further reading

• “off”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10