carry off

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carry off (third-person singular simple present carries off, present participle carrying off, simple past and past participle carried off)

1. (transitive) To transport away.

   I need a truck to carry off all this furniture.

2. (transitive) To steal or kidnap

   Bandits carried off most of the money.

   • 1913, Elizabeth Kimball Kendall, A Wayfarer in China:

     In spite of the importance of this route it remained until a few years ago very insecure. Overhung almost its entire length by the inaccessible fastnesses of Lololand, the passing caravans dared journey only with convoy, and even then were frequently overwhelmed by raiders from the hills, who carried off both trader and goods into the mountains, the former to lifelong servitude.

3. (transitive, idiomatic) To act convincingly; to succeed at giving the impression of (e.g.) knowledge, confidence, or familiarity.

   The actress carried off a difficult performance with dash.

   • 2022, Chris Patten, The Hong Kong Diaries, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

     Given my general shape I'd look pretty ridiculous in the sort of outfit which, to carry it off, needs rather more height and less bulk than I have.

4. (transitive) To cause the death of.

   Malaria carried off many people.

   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

     I was now entering on my fifteenth year, when the worſt of ills befell me in the loſs of my tender fond parents, who were both carried off by the smallpox, within a few days of each other; […] .

   • 2016 March 31, Celia W. Dugger, “Preventable Disease Blinds Poor in Third World”, in The New York Times:

     The bitterest loss was of her eldest daughter, carried off by malaria at 40 with a baby still inside her.

5. (transitive) To win (a prize, etc.).

   After a closely-fought match, Oxford carried off the trophy.