take off

Formstakes off, taking off, took off, taken off

1. 1
   start flyingphrasal verbintransitive

   To leave the ground and rise into the air or into flight, as an aircraft, a bird, or a jumper does.

   Our flight was supposed to take off at noon, but fog kept it on the runway.

   The long jumper took off a few inches before the board and still landed well.

   Similarlift, launch, depart

   Oppositeland

   Note

   Nothing is removed when a plane takes off: with no object the phrase turns from removing to rising, and it suits birds and athletes as well as aircraft. Swans need a long stretch of water to take off; a high jumper takes off from one foot. The starting point follows from, as in from runway 3 or from her left foot, and the moment itself is the noun take-off.

2. 2
   removephrasal verbtransitive

   To remove something, such as a piece of clothing from the body or an amount from a total.

   Guests are asked to take off their hats during the ceremony.

   The store took 20 percent off every winter coat.

   Similarremove, deduct, subtract

   Oppositeadd

   Note

   Removing is the sense that shows how the phrase handles an object: the particle can stand before or after it, so you take off your shoes or take your shoes off. With a pronoun it must come after, so it is take it off, never take off it. Amounts behave the same way: a grader takes a point off, and a shop takes ten dollars off the price.

3. 3
   become successfulphrasal verbintransitive

   To become successful and start to flourish.

   Her online bakery took off after a food writer praised it.

   Analysts doubted that electric scooters would take off in such a hilly city.

   Similarboom, flourish, succeed, thrive

   Oppositeflop, fail

4. 4
   miss workphrasal verbtransitive or intransitive

   To stay away from work or another responsibility for a time, especially with permission.

   She took off three days to care for her sick father.

   If you take off for the holidays, you'll need someone to cover your shifts.

   Note

   The object can be the time itself, as in take Friday off or take three days off, or the duty, as in take off work; a duty can also follow from, as in a night off from cooking. With no object at all it means taking leave: if you take off for Thanksgiving, you work Christmas. Permission is usually part of the picture, which separates it from simply skipping.

5. 5
   go awayphrasal verbintransitive

   To leave a place or go away.

   It's getting late, so I'm going to take off.

   When the alarm sounded, the thieves took off down the alley.

   Similarleave, go (entry), split, bolt

   Oppositearrive, stay

   Note

   Leaving this way is often quick and unceremonious: I'm going to take off now is a friendly exit line, while Take off! sends someone packing. Add after and it becomes a chase, as when someone takes off after a thief. In a relationship, to just take off is to walk out when problems arise instead of facing them.

6. 6
   noun · take-offcountable or uncountable

   Another spelling of takeoff.

   Strong crosswinds made the take-off bumpy for everyone on board.

   The sketch was a brilliant take-off of a morning talk show.

   Note

   Hyphenated here, or closed up as takeoff, the noun turns the verb's main senses into things: the launch of a plane or a jumper, a mocking imitation, a builder's count of materials, a surfer's first move on a wave. It can be counted (two take-offs an hour) or not (cleared for take-off). Written as two separate words, the noun is nonstandard; only the verb keeps the space.

7. 7
   copy someonephrasal verbtransitive

   To imitate someone, often in a mocking or satirical way.

   She can take off the boss perfectly, right down to his nervous cough.

   The comedian took off the senator's speaking style, long pauses and all.

   Similarimitate, mimic, parody, impersonate, ape

   Note

   The mimic's sense usually takes a person as its object: in John le Carré's A Perfect Spy (1986), Pym would take him off perfectly, catching the accent to a tee. With on and no direct object, the target can be a whole form instead, as when a show takes off on television, soap operas and quiz shows included. The result of either is a take-off, a parody.

8. 8
   surfingphrasal verbintransitive

   In surfing, to stand up on the board and begin riding a breaking wave.

   Paddle hard and take off just as the wave starts to pitch.

   He took off late on a steep set wave and was thrown from his board.

   Note

   Surfers mean the moment that decides a ride: paddling into the wave and rising to the feet in one motion. Bruce Brown's film The Endless Summer (1966) runs through the sequence a surfer lives: you take off, make the steep drop, hear the white water behind you. Taking off late, once the wave has already turned steep, makes that drop much harder.

9. 9
   count materialsphrasal verbtransitive

   To work out the quantity of something, such as the materials a building project needs.

   The estimator will take off the lumber from the drawings by Friday.

   Before bidding, we took off every door, window and fixture shown on the plans.

   Similarestimate, quantify

   Note

   In construction estimating, to take off concrete, lumber or doors is to measure and count them from the drawings before the job is priced. The finished list of quantities is itself called a takeoff, and a bid is built on it. Outside building and cost estimating the sense is rarely heard, so in general writing count or estimate is clearer.

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