rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryoffAway or separated
adverb / preposition / adjective

off

AWF/ɔf/

Away from a place or disconnected from something.

She lifts the red hat off her head and holds it aside.

An East Asian woman lifts a red hat completely off her head, holding it to the side with a clear gap between hat and head.
Etymology
offOld Englishaway, away from

Off developed as an emphatic form of the ancestor of of. It preserves the older idea of movement or separation away from something.

In context

Enhanced Public Domain90:27
I then took off my spectacles
1700s Satire: Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels (Audiobook)

More examples

  • They head off before sunrise.
  • Make sure the oven is off before you leave.
  • Tonight's game is off because of the storm.

Similar words

away
Emphasizes distance or departure rather than detachment or disconnection.
detached
Describes something no longer physically joined to something else.