go off

British  

verb

1. (adverb) (of power, a water supply, etc) to cease to be available, running, or functioning

   the lights suddenly went off

2. (adverb) to be discharged or activated; explode

3. (adverb) to occur as specified

   the meeting went off well

4. to leave (a place)

   the actors went off stage

5. (adverb) (of a sensation) to gradually cease to be felt or perceived

6. (adverb) to fall asleep

7. (adverb) to enter a specified state or condition

   she went off into hysterics

8. to abscond (with)

9. (adverb) (of concrete, mortar, etc) to harden

10. informal (adverb) (of food, milk, etc) to become stale or rotten

11. informal (preposition) to cease to like

    she went off him after their marriage

12. informal (adverb) to become bad-tempered

13. slang (adverb) to have an orgasm

14. slang (adverb) (of premises) to be raided by the police

15. slang (adverb) (of a racehorse) to win a fixed race

16. slang (adverb) to be stolen

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go off Idioms  

1. Explode, detonate; also, make noise, sound, especially abruptly. For example, I heard the gun go off , or The sirens went off at noon . This expression developed in the late 1500s and gave rise about 1700 to the related go off half-cocked , now meaning “to act prematurely” but originally referring to the slipping of a gun's hammer so that the gun fires (goes off) unexpectedly.

2. Leave, depart, especially suddenly, as in Don't go off mad , or They went off without saying goodbye . [c. 1600]

3. Keep to the expected plan or course of events, succeed, as in The project went off smoothly . [Second half of 1700s]

4. Deteriorate in quality, as in This milk seems to have gone off . [Late 1600s]

5. Die. Shakespeare used this sense in Macbeth (5:9): “I would the friends we missed were safely arrived.—Some must go off.”

6. Experience orgasm. D.H. Lawrence used this slangy sense in Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928): “You couldn't go off at the same time....” This usage is probably rare today. Also see get off , def. 8.

7. go off on a tangent . See under on a tangent .

8. go off one's head . See off one's head . Also see subsequent idioms beginning with go off .

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Example Sentences

And then they’d go off and eat sushi, and then you have to come up with a whole entire script and write it overnight.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

“Our family is going to go off on a new adventure, which means we are selling our Hamptons home,” she wrote in the accompanying caption.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026

England's bomb squad came on, but didn't really go off.

From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026

"The meeting could easily go off the rails."

From Barron's • Jan. 31, 2026

Anyway, the man on the last radio station had said he was going to have to go off; there wasn’t any more power.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

Related Words

• blow
• blow up
• burst
• detonate
• happen
• occur
• take place