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Off and on   /ɔf ənd ɑn/   Listen
adverb
Off  adv.  In a general sense, denoting from or away from; as:
1.
Denoting distance or separation; as, the house is a mile off.
2.
Denoting the action of removing or separating; separation; as, to take off the hat or cloak; to cut off, to pare off, to clip off, to peel off, to tear off, to march off, to fly off, and the like.
3.
Denoting a leaving, abandonment, departure, abatement, interruption, or remission; as, the fever goes off; the pain goes off; the game is off; all bets are off.
4.
Denoting a different direction; not on or towards: away; as, to look off.
5.
Denoting opposition or negation. (Obs.) "The questions no way touch upon puritanism, either off or on."
From off, off from; off. "A live coal... taken with the tongs from off the altar."
Off and on.
(a)
Not constantly; not regularly; now and then; occasionally.
(b)
(Naut.) On different tacks, now toward, and now away from, the land.
To be off.
(a)
To depart; to escape; as, he was off without a moment's warning.
(b)
To be abandoned, as an agreement or purpose; as, the bet was declared to be off. (Colloq.)
To come off, To cut off, To fall off, To go off, etc. See under Come, Cut, Fall, Go, etc.
To get off.
(a)
To utter; to discharge; as, to get off a joke.
(b)
To go away; to escape; as, to get off easily from a trial. (Colloq.)
To take off To do a take-off on, To take off, to mimic, lampoon, or impersonate.
To tell off
(a)
(Mil.) to divide and practice a regiment or company in the several formations, preparatory to marching to the general parade for field exercises.
(b)
to rebuke (a person) for an improper action; to scold; to reprimand.
To be well off, to be in good condition.
To be ill off, To be badly off, to be in poor condition.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Off and on" Quotes from Famous Books



... husband, like Mr. Quintin Manx, a lord of fleets. Old Lady Dacier's bluntness in speaking of her grandson would have shocked Lady Wathin as much as it astonished, had she been less of an ardent absorber of aristocratic manners. Percy was plainly called a donkey, for hanging off and on with a handsome girl of such expectations as Miss Asper. 'But what you can't do with a horse, you can't hope to do with a donkey.' She added that she had come for the purpose of seeing the heiress, of whose points of person ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... was lying at the pier. The said pier is a very pleasant place of promenade, the water and banks are so pretty, and there is so much liveliness of ships about it. Well I started in a gig, in a swashing rain, which continued off and on for a good while. Of the 21 miles, I should think that 15 were across the New Forest. I do not much admire it. As for Norman William's destruction of houses and churches to make it hunting ground, that is utter nonsense which never could have been written by anybody that ...
— Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy • George Biddell Airy

... me to retract!" cried Joseph, impetuously. "Never will I retract what I have said or done, for I act from conviction, and conviction does not slip off and on like a glove! But let us speak no more on this subject. If your holiness will write down your canonical objections to my proceedings against the church, I will lay them before my theologians for examination. My chancellor shall ...
— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach

... heaved her backside. I seized her by each hip and favoured her side movements by, as it were, drawing her off and on; faster and faster we moved, until at last the crisis seized us both together. Her head sank with a deep sigh, or rather cry of ecstasy. She would have fallen forward on her belly, but that my grip of her hips held her bottom close up to my belly, with ...
— The Romance of Lust - A classic Victorian erotic novel • Anonymous

... from him. Then she was asked as to her residence after her marriage, and here she was less clear. She had lived with him first at Ahalala and then at Nobble, but she could not say for how long. It had been off and on. There had been quarrels, and after a time they had agreed to part. She had received from him a certain amount of mining shares and of money, and had undertaken in return never to bother him any more. There was a great deal ...
— John Caldigate • Anthony Trollope


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