off adv.1
1. (US Und.) untrustworthy within the criminal code.
Confessions of Convict 50: He had in some way lost my priceless gift-cameo. [...] ‘Maybe, Jimmy,’ he said, ‘somebody pinched me in some ‘off’ resort.’. |
2. unfashionable, unattractive; unacceptable in a given social context.
Satirist and Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 4 Feb. 2/1: The Bench however convinced that the Shiner’s story was all moonshine, and after extracting the price of another ‘nobbler’ and a ‘tightener’ for the Queen? i.e. making Jack pay a ‘bob’, for the affair was, as our sporting correspondent says ‘off’. | ||
Scribner’s Monthly Apr. 820/1: [Etagères] are a little gone off in these days, serving no real use but only to put futile bits of glass and china on for the housemaid to break [DA]. | ||
Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 16 Sept. 17/4: When did Larry Jerome fail to appreciate a story a little off and when did [...] McCullough fail to unbend when some piquant scandal with a smutty ending was the topic? | ||
Sporting Times 7 Jan. 1/2: He’d always been with off crowds, where the ghost had never walked. | ‘Ocular Demonstration’ in||
Coburg Leader (Vic.) 23 Mar. 4/3: Who is the flash butcher that wears tan boots on his round, looks a bit off, don’t it. | ||
Wolfville 38: If you-all could manage to kiss this yere outfit once apiece, Miss, it would be regarded.[...] Some of ’em looks a little off, but they’re all right. | ||
Sun. Times (Perth) 10 Sept. 4/7: I don’t mind you having a sandwich [...] if yer eat a bit of meat between two bits of bread [...] but when you blokes eat a bit of bread between two ’arf-pound slices of beef, it’s a bit off. | ||
Psmith in the City (1993) 147: This bank business is far from being much of a catch. Indeed, I should describe it definitely as a bit off. | ||
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (1955) 104: Yes, it is a bit orf, when you look at it like that. | ||
Sport (Adelaide) 11 Sept. 4/2: K is for Kate F., who is a little bit off. | ||
Gilt Kid 62: He took his cigarette out of his mouth. It looked a bit off to be chatting the old boy that way. | ||
Mad mag. Sept. 41: The off-cats who goofed here have blown so crazily up. | ||
Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 203: But maybe tonight would look a bit off. I mean, I am Ally’s guest. | ||
Real Thing 59: [of breaking wind] Oh Jesus, that’s off [...] What have you been eatin? Tinned rat? | ||
Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] Good Lord, thought Les, bumping past a pair of leather clad silhouettes with their hands in each other’s shorts and their tongues down each other’s throats. How off’s this? |
3. (US) smutty, obscene.
Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 15 July 3/2: He is good at a broken Dutch ballad [...] or a little ‘off’ story [...] , but act, to put it in the vernacular of his class [...] ‘Nixey, Cull’. |
4. feeling or looking unwell, despondent, unenthusiastic.
Post to Finish I 174: Being a little out of sorts or, in turf argot, ‘a little off’. | ||
World (N.Y.) 4 May 7/3: If [umpire] Daniels thought Slattery was out in the first inning yesterday and he so decided, then his judgment is worse than many people believed it to be. Charlie must have had a couple of ‘off days’ here. | ||
Minor Dialogues 262: Feel devilish chippy this morning somehow. Altogether off. | ||
Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Sept. 17/2: The other day, at a road-camp, I tasted tinned bull [...] and rather relished it, but afterwards felt a bit ‘off’. | ||
Ruggles of Red Gap (1917) 282: Feeling a mite off this morning. | ||
‘Ridin’ Up the Rocky Trail’ in Songs of the Cattle Trail 104: Bill’s off eye is darkly fadin’. | ||
(con. 1920s) Studs Lonigan (1936) 240: He looked completely off because of the deadened nerves in [...] his face. | Young Manhood in||
Body in the Library (1959) 128: I see him in his ‘off’ moments, not only in his ‘on’ ones. | ||
To Love and Be Wise 213: Would it be one of Bryce’s good days or one of his ‘off’ ones? The Superintendent’s average was one off day to three good ones. | ||
Guntz 150: Maybe they were having a bit of an off night. | ||
Family Arsenal 108: I must say, I’m feeling a bit off. | ||
Skull Session 430: I got drunk the night before, I was a little off when I ran into Lia. | ||
Disassembled Man [ebook] Is something wrong, Frankie? [...] You seem a little off. | ||
Cherry 175: [W]e were all a little off. [...] we were ready for it [i.e. fighting in Iraq] to end. There was nothing interesting about it anymore. There was nothing. We had wasted our time. We had lost. |
5. stale, in poor condition, out of date.
Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 15 Nov. 12/1: As dancers they excel, but their ‘wheezes’ are unfortunately ‘a bit off’. | ||
Wolfville 58: My eyes is gettin’ some old an’ off. | ||
Soul Market 93: It was the practice [...] to buy at Covent Garden market the second or slightly ‘off’ fruit. | ||
Bar-20 Days 18: He drained the glass and then made a grimace. ‘Tastes a little off.’. | ||
Nine Tailors (1984) 160: My French is a bit off, these days. | ||
Cold Stone Jug (1981) II 100: The soup was noticeably off. No jokes. It was bad soup. | ||
White with Wire Wheels (1973) 217: That milk was right off! | ||
Kings Road 79: Chicken salad – that’s a bit off so have the lamb! | ||
Union Street 42: I see the milk’s off. | ||
Indep. Rev. 21 Aug. 13: He’ll send away anything that’s ‘off’. |
6. of food, unavailable on a menu.
Marvel 21 Dec. 15: So winkles is hoff! | ||
Gold Bat [ebook] ‘Biscuits are off. I finished ’em yesterday’. | ||
Cop This Lot 28: When ut’s on the house yer gotta get ut quick before ut goes orf. | ||
Full Cycle 183: Whadda y’ want? Beer? The beer’s off, see? | ||
Soho 113: ‘Which of these is off, mate?’ he asked, as the waiter scurried back with Brendan’s bottle of house white. |
7. forbidden.
Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 58: ‘Ciggers is off!’ said Nippo, resolutely. | ||
Dubliners (1956) 169: ‘No candles!’ repeated Mr Kernan obdurately. ‘That’s off!’. | ‘Grace’
8. aloof, withdrawn.
(con. 1950s) Spend, Spend, Spend (1978) 63: I’m sorry I’ve been a bit off with thee for the last couple of days. | ||
Tucker and Co 98: Alan gave an exaggerated sniff, ‘You’re always a bit off!’. | ||
Ten Storey Love Song 48: ‘He hasn’t been sleeping very well [...] and he’ll be really off with with you’. |
9. in a trance.
Songlines 53: Flynn lagged behind, his eyes half-closed [...] ‘I could see he was ‘off’,’ Father Terence told me. |
10. (Aus.) in poor taste; unfair.
You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 165: The place wasn’t all that bad, just some of the people who went there were a bit off. | ||
What are ya? 70: I reckon it’s a bit off, kids like us making out we’re Toorak types. | ||
Sun-Herald (Sydney) 18 Feb. 128/4: off, foul, gross and vom (all mean horrible). |
In derivatives
disinclination, lack of enthusiasm.
Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 22 July 3/1: There is a decided ‘offness’ in the ‘perfesh’ when they are asked to come forward with assistance . |