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Chambers (1908)

Off

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[Same as Of.]

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Off, of, adv. from: away from: on the opposite side of a question.—adj. most distant: on the opposite or farther side: on the side of a cricket-field right of the wicket-keeper and left of the bowler: not devoted to usual business, as an Off day.—prep. not on.—interj. away! depart!—adj. and adv. Off′-and-on′, occasional.—adj. Off′-col′our, of inferior value: indisposed.—n. Off′-come (Scot.), an apology, pretext: any exhibition of temper, &c.—adv. Off′-hand, at once: without hesitating.—adj. without study: impromptu: free and easy.—adj. Off′ish, reserved in manner.—ns. Off′-print, a reprint of a single article from a magazine or other periodical—the French tirage à part, German Abdruck; Off′-reck′oning, an allowance formerly made to certain British officers from the money appropriated for army clothing.—v.t. Off′saddle, to unsaddle.—ns. Off′scouring, matter scoured off: refuse: anything vile or despised; Off′-scum, refuse or scum; Off′set (in accounts), a sum or value set off against another as an equivalent: a short lateral shoot or bulb: a terrace on a hillside: (archit.) a horizontal ledge on the face of a wall: in surveying, a perpendicular from the main line to an outlying point.—v.t. (in accounts) to place against as an equivalent.—n. Off′shoot, that which shoots off from the main stem, stream, &c.: anything growing out of another.—adv. Off′shore, in a direction from the shore, as a wind: at a distance from the shore.—adj. from the shore.—ns. Off′side, the right-hand side in driving: the farther side; Off′spring, that which springs from another: a child, or children: issue: production of any kind.—Off one's chump, head, demented; Off one's feed, indisposed to eat.—Be off, to go away quickly; Come off, Go off, Show off, Take off, &c. (see Come, Go, Show, Take, &c.); Ill off, poor or unfortunate; Tell off, to count: to assign, as for a special duty; Well off, rich, well provided. [Same as Of.]

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  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
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  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

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Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

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