put off

British  

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to postpone or delay

   they have put off the dance until tomorrow

2. (tr, adverb) to evade (a person) by postponement or delay

   they tried to put him off, but he came anyway

3. (tr, adverb) to confuse; disconcert

   he was put off by her appearance

4. (tr, preposition) to cause to lose interest in or enjoyment of

   the accident put him off driving

5. (intr, adverb) nautical to be launched off from shore or from a ship

   we put off in the lifeboat towards the ship

6. archaic (tr, adverb) to remove (clothes)

---

noun

1. a pretext or delay

put off Idioms  

1. Delay or postpone, as in He always puts off paying his bills. This idiom, dating from the late 1300s, gave rise to the proverb Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, first recorded in the late 1300s (in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee) and repeated ever since. Also see put one off.

---

Example Sentences

Restaurant traffic declined 1.9% last year as consumers pulled back on eating out, many put off by high prices, according to market-research firm Black Box Intelligence.

From The Wall Street Journal

"It's too expensive to go into a bar now, that's just the way it is," Deeney said, adding that he believed people would be put off going out for a drink.

From BBC

The day has finally come when we can no longer put off leaving.

From Literature

Both had offers on the table before this season but put off signing new deals.

From Los Angeles Times

Moreover, they suggest that power plants, put off by the spiraling prices, may temporarily switch to coal from gas.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• adjourn
• postpone
• reschedule
• shelve
• suspend