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off

  • /ɒf/ UK
  • /ɔːf/ UK
  • /ɔf/ US
  • /ɒf/ Canada
  • [ɔːf] Canada
  • /ɑf/ cot caught merger
  • /ɔf/ Scotland

Rhymes with (Received Pronunciation) -ɒf, (older Received Pronunciation, General American) -ɔːf

Where it comes from

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.

adverb offn

  1. not comparable In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point. He drove off in a cloud of smoke.
  2. not comparable Into a state of non-operation or non-existence. Please switch off the light when you leave.
  3. not comparable So as to remove or separate, or be removed or separated. He bit off the end of the carrot.
  4. not comparable Specifying the number of some item in bills, parts lists, etc. 3 off 20 amp fuses
  5. not comparable Offstage. noises off
  6. not comparable 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.

Similar: away, out

adjective more off · most off · offn

  1. predicative Inoperative, disabled. All the lights are off.
  2. predicative 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.
  4. Not correct; not properly formed; not logical, harmonious, etc. This calculation is off: the numbers don't add up.
  5. predicative Inappropriate; untoward. I felt that his comments were a bit off.
  6. Less than normal, in temperament or in result. sales are off this quarter
  7. Designating a time when one is not performing to the best of one's abilities.
  8. UK Rancid, rotten, gone bad. This milk is off!
  9. Australia, broadly, slang Disgusting, repulsive, abhorrent.
  10. usually Circumstanced. Our family used to be well off; now we're very badly off.
  11. Started on the way. off to see the wizard
  12. Far; off to the side. He took me down the corridor and into an off room.
  13. 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.
  14. 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
  15. predicative Presently unavailable. (of a dish on a menu) I'll have the chicken please. — Sorry, chicken's off today.
  16. UK On the side furthest from the kerb (the right-hand side if one drives on the left). The off front wheel came loose.
  17. In, or towards the half of the field away from the batsman's legs; the right side for a right-handed batsman.
  18. slang Offsuit.

preposition offn

  1. Not positioned upon; away from a position upon. He's off the roof now.
  2. Detached, separated, excluded or disconnected from; away from a position of attachment or connection to. The phone is off the hook
  3. Outside the area or region of. The suspect is now believed to be off the campus.
  4. Temporarily not attending (a usual place), especially owing to illness or holiday. off work; off school
  5. 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.
  6. Used to express location at sea relative to land or mainland. The island is 23 miles off the cape.
  7. Used to indicate separation from a natural home or origin. He used to be gone a lot of the time, off working on an oil rig.
  8. Removed or subtracted from. There's 20% off the list price.
  9. No longer wanting or taking. He's been off his feed since Tuesday.
  10. colloquial Out of the possession of. He didn't buy it off him. He stole it off him.
  11. Placed after a number (of products or parts, as if a unit), in commerce or engineering. I'd like to re-order those printer cartridges, let's say 5-off.
  12. slang Under the influence of. The guy was off a perc.
  13. informal As a result of; resulting from the actions of. The team won off a late-game fumble by an opposing player.

verb offs · offing · offed · offn

  1. slang, transitive To kill. 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. Nigeria, Philippines, Singapore, transitive To switch off. Can you off the light?

noun offn

  1. uncountable, usually Beginning; starting point. He has been very obviously an untrustworthy narrator right from the off.

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