off
/ɔf/ preposition B1- Not positioned upon; away from a position upon. · He's off the roof now.· I took it off the table.
- Detached, separated, excluded or disconnected from; away from a position of attachment or connection to. · The phone is off the hook· The coat fell off the peg.
- Outside the area or region of. · I couldn't see what it said because the line of text ran off the page.
- Temporarily not attending (a usual place), especially owing to illness or holiday. · off work; off school
- 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.· We're just off the main road.
- Used to express location at sea relative to land or mainland. · The island is 23 miles off the cape.
- 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.
- Removed or subtracted from. · There's 20% off the list price.
From the library
The Sheep, fearing some fraud was intended, excused herself, saying, “The Wolf is accustomed to seize what he wants and to run off; and you, too, can quickly outstrip me in your rapid flight.
“Then the murderer, or whoever it was, first took off this ring you call the nugget ring, then the wedding ring, and afterwards put the nugget ring back again.”
As usual, a pilot put off immediately, and rounding the Château d’If, got on board the vessel between Cape Morgiou and Rion island.
However, those experienced in navigation saw plainly that if any accident had occurred, it was not to the vessel herself, for she bore down with all the evidence of being skilfully handled, the anchor a-cockbill, the jib-boom guys already eased off, and standing by the side of the pilot, who was steering the Pharaon towards the narrow entrance of the inner port, was a young man, who, with activity and vigilant eye, watched every motion of the ship, and repeated each direction of the pilot.
Other matches
Learn off in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.