take off

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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)

  1. (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.
  2. (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.
  3. (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.
  4. (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.
  5. (intransitive) To depart.
    I'm going to take off now.
    Take off, loser!
  6. (transitive) To quantify.
    I'll take off the concrete and steel for this construction project.
  7. (transitive) 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.
  8. (intransitive, slang, dated) To take drugs; to inject drugs.
  9. (transitive, slang, dated) To steal (something) or rob (someone).
  10. (transitive, archaic) To swallow.
    to take off a glass of wine

Synonyms

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

Translations

to imitate — see imitate
to quantify — see quantify

See also

Noun

take off (plural take offs)

  1. 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.

Anagrams

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