off

  • (noun): (usually in phrases such as 'from the off', 'at the off', etc.) Beginning; starting point.
  • (verb): To kill.
  • (verb): To switch off.
  • (adjective): Inoperative, disabled.
  • (adjective): Cancelled; not happening.
  • (adjective): Not fitted; not being worn.
  • (adjective): Rancid, rotten, gone bad.
  • (adjective): Less than normal, in temperament or in result.
  • (adjective): Inappropriate; untoward.
  • (adjective): (in phrases such as 'well off', 'better off', 'poorly off') Circumstanced.
  • (adjective): Started on the way.
  • (adjective): Far; off to the side.
  • (adjective): 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.
  • (adjective): (in phrases such as 'off day') Designating a time when one is not performing to the best of one's abilities.
  • (adjective): (of a dish on a menu) Presently unavailable.
  • (adjective): (in relation to a vehicle) On the side furthest from the kerb (the right-hand side if one drives on the left).
  • (adjective): In, or towards the half of the field away from the batsman's legs; the right side for a right-handed batsman.
  • (adverb): In a direction away from the speaker or object.
  • (adverb): Into a state of non-operation or non-existence.
  • (adverb): So as to remove or separate, or be removed or separated.
  • (adverb): 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.
  • (preposition): Not positioned upon; away from a position upon.
  • (preposition): Detached, separated, excluded or disconnected from; away from a position of attachment or connection to.
  • (preposition): Used to indicate the location or direction of one thing relative to another, implying adjacency or accessibility via.
  • (preposition): Used to express location at sea relative to land or mainland.
  • (preposition): Removed or subtracted from.
  • (preposition): No longer wanting or taking.
  • (preposition): (more properly 'from') Out of the possession of.
  • (preposition): Placed after a number (of products or parts, as if a unit), in commerce or engineering.
  • He has been very obviously an untrustworthy narrator right from the off.
  • He got in the way so I had him offed.
  • Can you off the light?
  • All the lights are off.
  • The party's off because the hostess is sick.