15 ADV If something is a long time off , it will not happen for a long time. □ An end to the crisis seems a long way off. □ The required technology is probably still two years off.
16 PREP If you get something off someone, you obtain it from them. [SPOKEN ] □ I don't really get a lot of information, and if I do I get it off Mark. □ 'Telmex' was bought off the government by a group of investors.
17 ADJ [v-link ADJ ] If food has gone off , it tastes and smells bad because it is no longer fresh enough to be eaten. [mainly BRIT ] □ Don't eat that! It's mouldy. It's gone off! in AM, usually use spoiled , bad 18 PREP If you live off a particular kind of food, you eat it in order to live. If you live off a particular source of money, you use it to live. □ Living off papaya, mango and pineapple might sound delicious, but is not practical. □ Antony had been living off the sale of his own paintings.
19 PREP If a machine runs off a particular kind of fuel or power, it uses that power in order to function. □ During the daytime the mechanical heart works off batteries.
20 PHRASE If something happens on and off , or off and on , it happens occasionally, or only for part of a period of time, not in a regular or continuous way. □ I was still working on and off as a waitress to support myself. □ We lived together, off and on, for two years.
o ff-ai r also off air ADV [ADV after v, be ADV ] In radio or television, when a programme goes off-air or when something happens off-air , it is not broadcast. □ The argument continued off air. ● ADJ [ADJ n] Off-air is also an adjective. □ …a special off-air advice line.
of|fal /ɒ f ə l, [AM ] ɔː f ə l/ N‑UNCOUNT Offal is the internal organs of animals, for example their hearts and livers, when they are cooked and eaten.
o ff-ba lance also off balance
1 ADJ [v-link ADJ ] If someone or something is off-balance , they can easily fall or be knocked over because they are not standing firmly. □ He tried to use his own weight to push his attacker off but he was off balance.
2 ADJ If someone is caught off-balance , they are extremely surprised or upset by a particular event or piece of news they are not expecting. □ Mullins knocked me off-balance with his abrupt change of subject. □ The government was thrown off-balance by the attempted coup.
o ff-bea m also off beam ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If you describe something or someone as off-beam , you mean that they are wrong or inaccurate. [INFORMAL ] □ Everything she says is a little off beam.
off|beat /ɒ fbiː t, [AM ] ɔː f-/ also off-beat ADJ [usu ADJ n] If you describe something or someone as offbeat , you think that they are different from normal. □ …a wickedly offbeat imagination.
off-Broadway /ɒ f brɔː dwe I , [AM ] ɔː f -/
1 ADJ [ADJ n] An off-Broadway theatre is located close to Broadway, the main theatre district in New York.
2 ADJ [ADJ n] An off-Broadway play is less commercial and often more unusual than those usually staged on Broadway.
o ff-ce ntre in AM, use off-center 1 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If something is off-centre , it is not exactly in the middle of a space or surface. □ If the blocks are placed off-centre, they will fall down.
2 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If you describe someone or something as off-centre , you mean that they are less conventional than other people or things. □ Davies's writing is far too off-centre to be commercial.
o ff-chance also off chance PHRASE If you do something on the off-chance , you do it because you hope that it will succeed, although you think that this is unlikely. □ [PHR that] He had taken a flight to Paris on the off-chance that he might be able to meet Francesca. [Also + of ]
o ff-co lour in AM, use off-color 1 ADJ [v-link ADJ ] If you say that you are feeling off-colour , you mean that you are slightly ill. [BRIT ] □ For three weeks Maurice felt off-colour but did not have any dramatic symptoms.
2 ADJ If you say that someone's performance is off-colour , you mean that they are not performing as well as they usually do. [BRIT , JOURNALISM ] □ Milan looked off-colour but eventually took the lead in the 82nd minute.
o ff day (off days ) also off-day N‑COUNT If someone has an off day , they do not perform as well as usual. [INFORMAL ] □ Whittingham, the League's top scorer, had an off day, missing three good chances.
o ff-du ty ADJ When someone such as a soldier or police officer is off-duty , they are not working. □ The place is the haunt of off-duty police officers.
of|fence ◆◇◇ /əfe ns/ (offences ) The spelling offense is used in American English. 1 N‑COUNT An offence is a crime that breaks a particular law and requires a particular punishment. □ Thirteen people have been charged with treason–an offence which can carry the death penalty. □ In Britain the Consumer Protection Act makes it a criminal offence to sell goods that are unsafe.
2 N‑VAR Offence or an offence is behaviour which causes people to be upset or embarrassed. □ The book might be published without creating offense. □ [+ to ] Privilege determined by birth is an offence to any modern sense of justice.
3 CONVENTION Some people say ' no offence ' to make it clear that they do not want to upset you, although what they are saying may seem rather rude. [FORMULAE ] □ Dad, you need a bath. No offence.
4 PHRASE If someone takes offence at something you say or do, they feel upset, often unnecessarily, because they think you are being rude to them. □ She never takes offence at anything. □ Never had she seen him so tense, so quick to take offence as he had been in recent weeks. SYNONYMS offence NOUN