Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to die or kill.

1797		M. Robinson Walsingham II 279: Must look in upon the rich old jade, before she hops off .
1802		Sporting Mag. Apr. XX 62/1: You’ll be tried, / And will scarcely hop off without holes in your hide.
1839		C. Dance Alive and Merry I i: Couldn’t you wait a bit till she’s hopped off, and then you and I could marry.
1870		Chambers’s Misc. No. 87 26: That her disease was mortal, was past a doubt, and a month or two more or less could make no difference, provided she hopped off... before the year was expired [F&H].
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 33: As I have said, the skunk was hopped off.

2. to leave, to absocond.

1779		J. O’Keeffe Son-in-Law (1783) 23: Hop off, Mr Hop-factor.
1811		J. Poole Hamlet Travestie I iii: Hop off, I say! (To Ghost) Lead on; I’ll quickly follow.
1855		Morn. Post (London) 29 Mar. 5/3: Two others were wounded, but seen to hop off as best they could.
1890		Wash. Standard (Olympia, WA) 5 Sept. 3/2: Three ‘skips’ in a week is something unsual [...] J.A. Anderson has hopped off his perch.
1902		W.W. Jacobs ‘Bill’s Paper Chase’ in Monkey’s Paw (1962) 55: ‘I’ve got a plan myself,’ he says, in a low voice, after the boy ’ad ’opped off.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 214: Lees goes south with the rig an’ I hops off an’ comes by a roundabout way up here.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 390: Mr. and Mrs. Jack Cunningham Hop Off for the First Lap of Their Honeymoon.
1935		West. Mail (Perth) 18 July 18/5: Hop off, old girl, and find those sheep.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 170: The skipper [...] said we could hop off at the next lock.
1963		H.S. Thompson letter 22 May in Proud Highway (1997) 381: Then hopped off next day for Wash.
2000		Guardian G2 28 Jan. 4: When the British say ‘Hop off you Frogs’ [...] they don’t really mean it.