off

Meaning

Adv

1. In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point.
2. Into a state of non-operation or non-existence.
3. So as to remove or separate, or be removed or separated.
4. Offstage.
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.

Adj

1. Inoperative, disabled.
2. Cancelled; not happening.
3. Not fitted; not being worn.
4. Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
5. Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
6. Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
7. Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
8. Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
9. (slang) Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
10. Circumstanced.
11. Started on the way.
12. Far; off to the side.
13. 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.
14. Presently unavailable. (of a dish on a menu)
15. On the side furthest from the kerb (the right-hand side if one drives on the left).
16. In, or towards the half of the field away from the batsman's legs; the right side for a right-handed batsman.

Prep

1. Not positioned upon, or away from a position upon.
2. Detached, separated, excluded or disconnected from; away from a position of attachment or connection to.
3. Used to indicate the location or direction of one thing relative to another, implying adjacency or accessibility via.
4. Used to indicate the location or direction of one thing relative to another, implying adjacency or accessibility via.
5. Removed or subtracted from.
6. No longer wanting or taking.
7. (colloquial) Out of the possession of.
8. Placed after a number (of products or parts, as if a unit), in commerce or engineering.
9. (slang) Under the influence of.
10. As a result of.

Verb

1. (slang) To kill.
2. To switch off.

Noun

Beginning; starting point.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɒf/

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.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots of, af (“off, away”), West Frisian af, ôf (“off, away”), Dutch af (“off, from”), German Low German of (“off, from”), German ab (“off, from”), Danish af (“of, off”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish av (“of, off”), Icelandic af (“of, off”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af, “of, from”); and with Latin ab (“of, from, by”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), and others.

Sentences

But the boy never took his eye off his new friend .

Several towns broke off and incorporated separately over the course of time .

‘Are their heads off ? ’ shouted the Queen .