head off

English · Thesaurus

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head off

verb heads off · heading off · headed off

intransitive To begin moving away. We will head off on our holidays tomorrow.
transitive To intercept. The cavalry will head off the bandits at the pass.
Similar: cut off
transitive To avoid the undesirable consequences of; to prevent. The government took steps to head off summertime shortages of gasoline.
intransitive To start out. Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there’s a member-roll for you! What club but the whaleman’s can head off like that?
To turn away from the wind.

Translations

Every language

verb to begin moving away

Español	echarse a andar
Deutsch	abhauen, starten

verb to intercept

Deutsch	abfangen

verb to avoid the undesirable consequence of

Deutsch	vermeiden, verhindern

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MLA

"head off." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/head%20off. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

head off. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/head%20off

Chicago

"head off." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/head%20off.

BibTeX

@misc{head_off_2026,
  title = {head off},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/head%20off},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}