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.

2. (transitive) To imitate somebody, often in a satirical manner.
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!

   • 2020, Armando Lazzari, Dinner with the Mafia:

     Ben threw twenty bucks on the table, grabbed the map and took off after the thief, following Susan who had run off before him.

6. (transitive) To quantify.

   I'll take off the concrete and steel for this construction project.

7. (ambitransitive) 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

• (remove clothing) doff
• (imitate) ape, imitate, impersonate, mimic
• (become successful) bloom, blossom, flourish, grow, thrive
• (depart) See depart

• (antonym(s) of “remove”): don (applies to clothing only), put on
• (antonym(s) of “ascend”): land (also applies to spacecraft and some other vessels)
• (antonym(s) of “begin flight”): land, touch down

• French: enlever, ôter
• German: ausziehen clothing, loslösen, abziehen, ablegen, abnehmen
• Italian: togliere
• Portuguese: tirar
• Russian: снима́ть
• Spanish: quitarse

• French: décoller, prendre son vol, prendre son essor
• German: starten, abheben
• Italian: decollare
• Portuguese: decolar (Brazil), descolar (Portugal), levantar voo
• Russian: взлета́ть
• Spanish: despegar

• German: durchstarten, in Schwung kommen
• Portuguese: deslanchar
• Russian: подняться

• French: décoller, s'arracher
• German: abhauen (slang), sich verziehen (slang), weg sein (coll.), den Abflug machen (coll. / idiomatic), fortgehen

• German: freinehmen
• Portuguese: folgar

take off (plural take offs)

1. Nonstandard spelling of takeoff