be off
Idioms-
Leave, depart, as in I'm off to the races; wish me luck . This phrase, first recorded in 1826, was once commonly used as an imperative, meaning “go away”—as in Be off or I'll call the police —but today is rare in this context.
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Be in poor condition; be stale or spoiled; not work properly. For example, This milk must be off; it tastes sour , or The kitchen clock is off by at least five minutes . [Early 1990s]
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Be free from work, school, or some other regular occupation, as in The secretary is off today, but perhaps I can find it . [Mid-1800s]
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Decline, as in The industrial stocks are off 50 points today . This usage, nearly always applied to securities or other prices, was first recorded in 1929, the year of the great stock market crash.
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see be off.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I think civil contempt is a real possibility, and criminal contempt may not be off the table.
From Slate • Mar. 27, 2026
Askari sent text messages from Veisi's phone to her boss and her family saying she was leaving the UK and her phone would be off for one to two months.
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
Review & Preview will be off on Monday, with markets closed for Presidents Day.
From Barron's • Feb. 14, 2026
“You’ve got to be off the course at a very specific time, and if you’re not, you can get sanctioned. So I inspect with a watch on.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2026
The police must be off to arrest Communists, Helmuth assures himself.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
