Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US Und.) untrustworthy within the criminal code.

1893

J. Hawthorne 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.

1843		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’.
1876		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].
1882		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?
1893		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Ocular Demonstration’ in Sporting Times 7 Jan. 1/2: He’d always been with off crowds, where the ghost had never walked.
1895		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.
1897		A.H. Lewis 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.
1905		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.
1910		Wodehouse 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.
1914		R. Tressell Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (1955) 104: Yes, it is a bit orf, when you look at it like that.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 11 Sept. 4/2: K is for Kate F., who is a little bit off.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 62: He took his cigarette out of his mouth. It looked a bit off to be chatting the old boy that way.
1959		Mad mag. Sept. 41: The off-cats who goofed here have blown so crazily up.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 203: But maybe tonight would look a bit off. I mean, I am Ally’s guest.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 59: [of breaking wind] Oh Jesus, that’s off [...] What have you been eatin? Tinned rat?
2000		R.G. Barrett 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.

1882

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.

1884		H. Smart Post to Finish I 174: Being a little out of sorts or, in turf argot, ‘a little off’.
1888		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.
1895		W. Pett Ridge Minor Dialogues 262: Feel devilish chippy this morning somehow. Altogether off.
1900		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’.
1915		H.L. Wilson Ruggles of Red Gap (1917) 282: Feeling a mite off this morning.
1920		‘Ridin’ Up the Rocky Trail’ in J.A. Lomax Songs of the Cattle Trail 104: Bill’s off eye is darkly fadin’.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 240: He looked completely off because of the deadened nerves in [...] his face.
1942		A. Christie Body in the Library (1959) 128: I see him in his ‘off’ moments, not only in his ‘on’ ones.
1950		‘Josephine Tey’ 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.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 150: Maybe they were having a bit of an off night.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 108: I must say, I’m feeling a bit off.
1998		D. Hecht Skull Session 430: I got drunk the night before, I was a little off when I ran into Lia.
2009		N. Flexner Disassembled Man [ebook] Is something wrong, Frankie? [...] You seem a little off.
2019		N. Walker 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.

1890		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 15 Nov. 12/1: As dancers they excel, but their ‘wheezes’ are unfortunately ‘a bit off’.
1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 58: My eyes is gettin’ some old an’ off.
1906		O.C. Malvery Soul Market 93: It was the practice [...] to buy at Covent Garden market the second or slightly ‘off’ fruit.
1911		C.E. Mulford Bar-20 Days 18: He drained the glass and then made a grimace. ‘Tastes a little off.’.
1934		D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 160: My French is a bit off, these days.
1949		H.C. Bosman Cold Stone Jug (1981) II 100: The soup was noticeably off. No jokes. It was bad soup.
1967		J. Hibberd White with Wire Wheels (1973) 217: That milk was right off!
1971		M. Novotny Kings Road 79: Chicken salad – that’s a bit off so have the lamb!
1982		P. Barker Union Street 42: I see the milk’s off.
1999		Indep. Rev. 21 Aug. 13: He’ll send away anything that’s ‘off’.

6. of food, unavailable on a menu.

1900		Marvel 21 Dec. 15: So winkles is hoff!
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 28: When ut’s on the house yer gotta get ut quick before ut goes orf.
1969		L. Hadow Full Cycle 183: Whadda y’ want? Beer? The beer’s off, see?
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 113: ‘Which of these is off, mate?’ he asked, as the waiter scurried back with Brendan’s bottle of house white.

7. forbidden.

1914		E. Dyson Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 58: ‘Ciggers is off!’ said Nippo, resolutely.
1914		Joyce ‘Grace’ Dubliners (1956) 169: ‘No candles!’ repeated Mr Kernan obdurately. ‘That’s off!’.

8. aloof, withdrawn.

1977		(con. 1950s) Nicholson & Smith Spend, Spend, Spend (1978) 63: I’m sorry I’ve been a bit off with thee for the last couple of days.
1982		P. Redmond Tucker and Co 98: Alan gave an exaggerated sniff, ‘You’re always a bit off!’.
2009		R. Milward 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.

1987

B. Chatwin 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.

1985		R.G. Barrett 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.
1987		J. Pausacker What are ya? 70: I reckon it’s a bit off, kids like us making out we’re Toorak types.
1990		Sun-Herald (Sydney) 18 Feb. 128/4: off, foul, gross and vom (all mean horrible).