fall off
Etymology

From fall + off; and also dissimilated from Middle English offallen, from Old English offeallan.

Verb

fall off (third-person singular simple present falls off, present participle falling off, simple past fell off, past participle fallen off)

  1. (transitive and intransitive) To become detached or to drop from.
    Synonyms: drop off#English:_fall off, literally
    A button fell off my coat.
    • 1900, L. Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:
      Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet. For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.
  2. (intransitive) To diminish in size, value, etc.
    Synonyms: drop off#English:_fall off, lessen, reduce
    Business always falls off in the winter.
    MC ___'s new album is wack - he's fallen off big-time.
  3. (nautical) To change the direction of the sail so as to point in a direction that is more down wind; to bring the bow leeward.
    • 1846, Melville, Typee, chapter 1:
      'Why d'ye see, Captain Vangs,' says bold Jack, 'I'm as good a helmsman as ever put hand to spoke; but none of us can steer the old lady now. We can't keep her full and bye, sir; watch her ever so close, she will fall off and then, sir, when I put the helm down so gently, and try like to coax her to the work, she won't take it kindly, but will fall round off again; and it's all because she knows the land is under the lee, sir, and she won't go any more to windward.'
    • 1854, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Lawrence v. Minturn, Opinion of the Court
      She would not mind her helm, but would fall off; she would settle down aft and take in water over her stern, and plunged heavily forward.
  4. (intransitive) To fall into sin; stray.
    • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:
      I am bound to say that no one has fallen off so frequently as myself. I have renounced the devil and all his works; but it is by word of mouth only—by word of mouth only.
Noun

fall off (plural fall offs)

  1. (rabbitry) a noticeable movement that a buck will do after successfully breeding a doe
Translations Translations


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Offline English dictionary