take off
See also: takeoff and take-off
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
take off (third-person singular simple present takes off, present participle taking off, simple past took off, past participle taken off)
- (transitive) To remove.
- He took off his shoes.
- The test grader takes off a point for every misspelled word.
- Tomorrow the doctor will take the cast off her arm.
- 1980 Charlie's Angels (TV, season 4.23)
- Sounds nice. Has a certain ring to it. Take your shirt off.
- 1995, Richard Rhodes, quoting Curtis LeMay, “Scorpions in a Bottle”, in Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 574:
- The Russian bear has always been eager to stick his paw in Latin American waters. Now we've got him in a trap, let's take his leg off right up to his testicles. On second thought, let's take off his testicles, too.
- (transitive) To imitate, often in a satirical manner.
- 1986, John Le Carré, A Perfect Spy, Sceptre 2011, p. 365:
- Pym would take him off perfectly, thought Brotherhood. Pym would catch that accent to a tee.
- 1986, John Le Carré, A Perfect Spy, Sceptre 2011, p. 365:
- (intransitive, of an aircraft or spacecraft) To leave the ground and begin flight; to ascend into the air.
- The plane has been cleared to take off from runway 3.
- (intransitive) To become successful, to flourish.
- The business has really taken off this year and has made quite a profit.
- 2007 July 12, The Guardian, A welcome invasion.
- The message is now the medium – that is powerful and means products can take off practically all by themselves.
- (intransitive) To depart.
- I'm going to take off now.
- Take off, loser!
- (transitive) To quantify.
- I'll take off the concrete and steel for this construction project.
- (transitive, intransitive) To absent oneself from (work or other responsibility), especially with permission.
- If you take off for Thanksgiving you must work Christmas and vice versa.
- He decided to let his mother take a night off from cooking, so he took her and his siblings out to dinner.
- (intransitive, slang, dated) To take drugs; to inject drugs.
- (transitive, slang, dated) To steal (something) or rob (someone).
- (transitive, archaic) To swallow.
- to take off a glass of wine
Synonyms
- (remove clothing): doff
- (imitate): ape, imitate, impersonate, mimic
- (become successful): bloom, blossom, flourish, grow, thrive
- (depart): See depart
Antonyms
- (remove): don (applies to clothing only), put on
- (ascend): land (also applies to spacecraft and some other vessels)
- (begin flight): land, touch down
Related terms
- takeoff (or take-off)
- take one's hat off to
Translations
to remove
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to imitate — see imitate
to begin flight
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to become successful
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to depart
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to quantify — see quantify
to absent oneself from work or other responsibility
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See also
- to lift off
Noun
take off (plural take offs)
- Alternative form of takeoff
- 1986, Ira Katznelson, Aristide R. Zolberg, Working-class Formation, page 45:
- France never experienced a "take off" of the sort hypothesized by W. W. Rostow — a sudden spurt of output that begins sustained industrial growth.
- 2003, Calin M. Popescu, Kan Phaobunjong, Nuntapong Ovararin, Estimating Building Costs, page 354:
- Therefore, the only sure way to estimate the quantity of lumber required for any particular job is to do a take off of each piece of lumber needed for the work.
- 2003, N. A. Cumpsty, Jet Propulsion:
- This is virtually equal to the minimum value shown above to be necessary in the case of a total loss in thrust from one of the four engines at take off.
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Anagrams
- offtake