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.
What’s News will be off tomorrow in observance of July Fourth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
A quick programming note: The Surge, in a show of extreme patriotism, will be off next week for the July Fourth holiday.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
"I'm really impressing on him to do that because that could be a key part of his legacy. We know it's done then, so all the worry will be off our shoulders."
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
SpaceX’s estimate could easily be off by many orders of magnitude.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026
All I know is that everything seems to be off limits when it comes to Bubbe.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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.
