Green’s Dictionary of Slang

off v.2

[abbr. relevant uses of knock off v.]

1. (orig. US black) to kill or murder.

[US]N. Heard Howard Street 217: Slick, Billy-A and Baby Lawrence had offed the New York dope dealer.
[US]G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 58: They run around all the time saying, ‘Off the pigs’.
[US]B. Seale Seize the Time 447: Off the Pig means to kill the slave master. It doesn’t mean commit murder.
[US]H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 46: The shots sounded like firecrackers. ‘She’s offin’ ’em,’ Angel shouted.
[US]J. Wambaugh Golden Orange (1991) 161: He offs himself with a handgun.
[US]T. Fontana ‘Visits’ Oz ser. 1 ep. 2 [TV script] Honestly, I don’t know who offed Dino.
[US]J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 7: Don’t even think of offing yourself during my shift.
[US]Mad mag. Apr. 19: The lack of Federal standards regarding what kind of gas may be used in offing the creep is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment.
[UK]J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 275: How did Jenna feel about Jesus offing her boyfriend?
[Aus] D. Whish-Wilson ‘In Savage Freedom’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] Most pundits think [he] offed my first son, Kevin.
[US]J. Stahl Happy Mutant Baby Pills 156: I had kind of killed for the woman [...] I’d offed a man in a public toilet.
[Ire]L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 13: ‘Clean up after your mother offs someone’.
[US]C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 69: He got wasted and started bragging how he offed some rich bitch.
[UK]‘Aidan Truhen’ Seven Demons 247: [S]he cannot let me get offed here.

2. (orig. US) of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

[US]M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 205: The yard said that Jacob ‘Stoneface’ Blake would rather boot a convict in the ass than off his old lady.

3. (US Und.) to rob, usu. with violence.

[US]N. Heard Howard Street 19: If Gypsy Pearl didn’t hurry up, he’d be too weak to off that big trick.
[US]E. Sanders Family 188: Some sort of robbery [...] the offed travelers’ checks, the trading in dope.
[US](con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad.

4. (US black) to beat up someone.

[US]M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 198: Cadillac was the ex-heavyweight champ of the joint [...] ‘Offin’s my game, and I pimp a taste. Shoot crap, too.’.
[US]D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 74: off v. 1. to maul; beat up someone.
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 106: Terms like to fire, to blaze on, to off, or to drive on someone mean just that – to do unto others before they do you.

5. (US police) to apprehend and arrest someone.

[US]Sepe & Telano Cop Team 178: We can off him when he gets back.