fuck off

Formsfucks off, fucking off, fucked off

1. 1
   go awayinterjectionslangvulgar

   Used, vulgarly, to tell someone to go away or get lost.

   When the reporter pushed a microphone at him, he just said, "Fuck off."

   Fuck off, Kevin. I'm not lending you another cent.

   Note

   On its own the phrase is a complete reply that ends the exchange, often with a name tacked on: Fuck off, Kevin. James Dearden's Fatal Attraction (1987) turns it into a dare, when Alex says she would respect Dan more if he told her to fuck off, and he answers, All right, then. Fuck off.

2. 2
   phrasal verbvulgaridiomaticintransitive

   To go away or disappear, or, as a curse, to go to hell or screw oneself.

   Why don't you just fuck off and let me finish my work?

   As far as I'm concerned, the whole board can fuck off.

   Note

   The phrase is a curse aimed at someone the speaker wants gone, nearly always a command or a wish rather than a report: I wish you'd just fuck off, you can all fuck off. It has long been a punk and pop refrain, from the Dead Kennedys' Nazi Punks Fuck Off (1981) to Gayle's abcdefu (2021). Outside real anger or very relaxed company, go away carries the message without the offense.

3. 3
   leave suddenlyphrasal verbvulgaridiomaticintransitive

   To leave suddenly or without warning.

   Halfway through the shift, the new guy just fucked off and never came back.

   Don't you dare fuck off to the bar before we've finished packing the van.

   Similarbolt, split, disappear

   Note

   Here the speaker reports a departure instead of ordering one, and the phrase usually takes to and a destination: he had fucked off to Australia. It often implies leaving without a word or before the work was done, and it is just as coarse as the curse, though nobody is being told to go.

4. 4
   no wayinterjectionslangvulgar

   Used to express disagreement or disbelief at what someone has just said.

   "I just got the job." "Fuck off! You're kidding me!"

   Fuck off, there's no way that was a foul!

   Similarbollocks, bullshit, rubbish

   Note

   No anger need be meant: the phrase greets news that seems too good or too strange to be true, and a question often follows, as in Fuck off! You're joking, aren't you? Because the words match the hostile dismissal, tone and company tell a listener which one is meant.

5. 5
   waste timephrasal verbvulgaridiomaticintransitive

   To fritter time away or fool around instead of doing anything useful.

   Half the crew spent the morning fucking off in the break room.

   We can't afford to fuck off for another week when the deadline is Friday.

   Similarloaf, slack, idle

   Note

   Wasting time is the idea, close to fuck around and to the politer slack off. The person is still present, idling instead of working, which separates this use from leaving without warning: someone fucking off in the break room has not gone anywhere. It takes no object and keeps the full vulgarity of the phrase.

6. 6
   hugeadjective · fuck-offslangvulgarCommonwealthIrelandUK

   Massive, to the point of being intimidating or off-putting.

   They've put up a fuck-off great tower block right next to the park.

   He's bought a fuck-off telly that takes up the whole wall.

   Similarhuge, massive, enormous, whopping, ginormous

   Note

   Size is the point here, often with great after it, as in a fuck-off great truck. The exaggeration is usually comic or awed, much as a speaker might say enormous, and a fuck-off rat is frightening chiefly because it is huge. The shock of the word keeps it to very casual talk.

7. 7
   annoyphrasal verbvulgaridiomaticCommonwealthIrelandUKtransitive

   To annoy or irritate someone.

   What really fucks me off is drivers who never indicate.

   Being kept on hold for an hour had fucked him off completely.

   Similarannoy, irritate, infuriate, bug

   Note

   In British, Irish and Commonwealth speech the phrase can take an object, and the person annoyed sits in the middle: it really fucks me off, the wait fucked him off. That object is the clue; without one the same words are the curse telling someone to go, so a listener hears annoyance only when someone is named between them.

8. 8
   veryadverb · fuck-offslangvulgarCommonwealthIrelandUK

   Used to intensify the word or phrase that follows.

   The band were fuck-off brilliant at the festival last night.

   She was fuck-off flying down that last hill on her bike.

   Similarbloody, absolutely, seriously, really

   Note

   As an adverb it pumps up whatever follows, whether an adjective or a whole verb phrase: fuck-off brilliant, fuck-off smashing it out of the park. It does the job that fucking does in fucking brilliant, with the same coarseness, and it stays in casual speech.

9. 9
   aggressiveadjective · fuck-offslangvulgarCommonwealthIrelandUK

   Vicious and aggressive enough to intimidate people.

   The landlord's fuck-off manner kept the troublemakers well away from his pub.

   She shot him a fuck-off stare that ended the argument on the spot.

   Similarmenacing, intimidating, fearsome, threatening

   Note

   The hyphenated fuck-off goes before a noun, as in a fuck-off brute or a fuck-off stare, and it describes someone or something whose look alone says keep away. That is where the menace comes from: the brute or the stare seems to be telling you to fuck off before a word is spoken.

10. 10
    give upphrasal verbvulgaridiomaticCommonwealthIrelandUKtransitive

    To abandon something, giving it up altogether.

    Honestly, I'd love to fuck it all off and move to the coast.

    We fucked the barbecue off when it started chucking it down and went to the pub instead.

    Similarditch, scrap, abandon, drop, chuck

    Note

    Weariness rather than anger drives this use. A word such as it or this sits in the middle and a better plan usually follows, as in fuck this off and go home, or Joel Golby's 2016 daydream that we could all just fuck it off and live in a camper van. What gets dropped is a job, a routine or an evening's plans.

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