throw off
Britishverb
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to free oneself of; discard
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to produce or utter in a casual manner
to throw off a witty remark
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to escape from or elude
the fox rapidly threw off his pursuers
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to confuse or disconcert
the interruption threw the young pianist off
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informal to deride or ridicule
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Cast out, rid oneself of, as in He threw off all unpleasant memories and went to the reunion . [Early 1600s]
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Give off, emit, as in The garbage was throwing off an awful smell . [First half of 1700s] Also see throw out , def. 1.
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Also, . Distract, divert, or mislead, as in A mistaken estimate threw off her calculations , or These clues were designed to throw the detective off the scent . The variant comes from hunting, where the quarry may try to put pursuing hounds off the scent. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1800s. Also see off the track .
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Perform in a quick, spontaneous, or casual manner, as in He threw off one sketch after another . [Mid-1700s]
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.
When Martha was gone, I sat up and threw off the blankets.
From Literature
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“What that means is that these businesses are going to continue throwing off significant cash for years.”
From MarketWatch
Canada will grab and jostle the U.S., get physical and hope to throw off their mojo.
I think yesterday he threw off the mound, and the velocity is not near where it’s going to be, so I think that it’s a slow progression.
From Los Angeles Times
But a healthier labor market would be throwing off new jobs in a much wider range of businesses.
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.