Green’s Dictionary of Slang

off adv.1

[also as an adj. when used attrib. in all senses]

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

[US]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.

[Aus]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’.
[US]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].
[US]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?
[UK]‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Ocular Demonstration’ in Sporting Times 7 Jan. 1/2: He’d always been with off crowds, where the ghost had never walked.
[Aus]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.
[US]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.
[Aus]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.
[UK]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.
[UK]R. Tressell Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (1955) 104: Yes, it is a bit orf, when you look at it like that.
[Aus]Sport (Adelaide) 11 Sept. 4/2: K is for Kate F., who is a little bit off.
[UK]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.
[US]Mad mag. Sept. 41: The off-cats who goofed here have blown so crazily up.
[UK]F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 203: But maybe tonight would look a bit off. I mean, I am Ally’s guest.
[Aus]R.G. Barrett Real Thing 59: [of breaking wind] Oh Jesus, that’s off [...] What have you been eatin? Tinned rat?
[Aus]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.

[US]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.

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

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

6. of food, unavailable on a menu.

[UK]Marvel 21 Dec. 15: So winkles is hoff!
[UK]Wodehouse Gold Bat [ebook] ‘Biscuits are off. I finished ’em yesterday’.
[Aus]‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 28: When ut’s on the house yer gotta get ut quick before ut goes orf.
[UK]L. Hadow Full Cycle 183: Whadda y’ want? Beer? The beer’s off, see?
[UK]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.

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

8. aloof, withdrawn.

[UK](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.
[UK]P. Redmond Tucker and Co 98: Alan gave an exaggerated sniff, ‘You’re always a bit off!’.
[UK]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.

[UK]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.

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

In derivatives

offness (n.)

disinclination, lack of enthusiasm.

[US]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 .