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)

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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.

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Example Sentences

Rasmussen says more research is needed to understand which specific noises would put off hedgehogs.

From BBC

The current proposal allows the board to increase the fees 30 days after a vote, but it may be put off until the people mover is working, Reich added.

From Los Angeles Times

"This percentage is probably the profit margin plus, so you can see why developers are being put off," he says.

From BBC

At ValvoMax, higher tariff bills had forced the company to delay the introduction of a new oil-filter tool and put off plans to hire an additional employee.

From The Wall Street Journal

We all had to put blackout screens on our windows at night as well, to put off ‘enemy’ aircraft.

From Literature

Related Words

• adjourn
• postpone
• reschedule
• shelve
• suspend