turn off

phrasal verb · turn-off noun

10 meanings of turn off

1
shut downphrasal verbtransitive
To switch off a device, light, or mechanism, or to disable a feature, so that it stops operating.
You can turn off location tracking in the app's settings.
The pilot turned off the engines once the plane reached the gate.
Similardisable, deactivate, stop, cut
Oppositeenable, activate, start (entry)
Note
The everyday sense, and the one that sets the grammar for the rest: turn off the lights or turn the lights off, but always turn it off, with the pronoun in the middle. Its partner is turn on, and the pair is fixed enough for The IT Crowd's help-desk refrain: have you tried turning it off and turning it on again?
2
discouragephrasal verbtransitive
To make someone feel repelled or disgusted, or to discourage them from something.
Constant delays and dirty trains are turning off commuters who used to love the line.
The candidate's angry tone may turn off voters who were leaning his way.
Similaralienate, repel, discourage, deter, disgust
Oppositeattract, excite
Note
The object can follow the particle (turn off voters) or sit between the two words, where a pronoun must go: it really turns me off. What someone is discouraged from comes after off, as when delays turn passengers off rail travel. Janet Jackson's Nasty (1986) has the warning form, Better be a gentleman, or you'll turn me off. The noun turn-off names the thing with this effect.
3
mood killernoun · turn-offidiomaticcountable
Something that repels, disgusts, or discourages someone, especially by making them lose sexual interest.
For many renters, a tiny kitchen is an instant turn-off.
She said arrogance was her biggest turn-off in a partner.
Similardeterrent
Oppositeturn-on, attraction
4
shut downphrasal verbintransitive
Of a machine or device, to shut down or stop operating.
Most printers turn off automatically after an hour of sitting idle.
My laptop turned off without warning in the middle of the presentation.
Similarstop, die
Oppositestart (entry)
5
leave a roadphrasal verbintransitive
To leave the road one is traveling on, taking a side road or an exit.
Drivers heading to the stadium should turn off at Exit 12.
Just past the lake, we turned off onto a narrow gravel road.
Similarexit
6
shut a valvephrasal verbtransitive
To turn a tap or valve so that the flow of liquid or gas stops.
Always turn off the gas at the stove before you leave the house.
The plumber turned off the main valve before replacing the pipe.
Similarclose, shut
Oppositeopen
7
junctionnoun · turn-offcountable
A road where drivers leave a main road, such as an exit from a highway.
The turn-off for the campground is easy to miss in the dark.
There are three turn-offs into town; take the one by the water tower.
Similarexit, turning

Less common meanings

8
producephrasal verbarchaictransitive
To turn out or produce something.
With the new lathe, one worker could turn off two hundred chair legs in a shift.
According to D. A. Wells, one boy and a machine can turn off 9,000 pair of sleeve buttons in a day.
1895, The Dawn, volumes 7-8
Note
Factories once turned off goods by the thousand: The Dawn of 1895, citing D. A. Wells, reckons that one boy and a machine can turn off 9,000 pair of sleeve buttons in a day. The use is archaic. Write turn out or produce now, since readers hear switching off first and the sentence can seem to say the opposite.
9
fire (job)phrasal verbobsoletetransitive
To dismiss someone from employment; to fire.
The mill owner turned off a dozen workers when the orders dried up.
She threatened to turn off any maid who gossiped about the household.
Note
Servants were turned off by their masters: in John Moore's Zeluco (1789), a malicious valet uses a young man's drunkenness on St Andrew's Day to get him dismissed this way. The sense is obsolete. Write dismissed or fired today, because a modern reader hears turned off as putting someone off.
10
execute by hangingphrasal verbobsoletetransitive
To execute someone by hanging.
The condemned man was turned off before a jeering crowd in the market square.
The fell had not only put its cap on, it was drawn down over its white face as that other white cap, still more terrible to look upon, covers the features of the poor wretch about to be "turned off" on the gallows.
1890, James Payn, The Burnt Million
Note
This was gallows slang, and it was usually passive: a condemned man was turned off. James Payn's The Burnt Million (1890) already sets the phrase apart in inverted commas, as a piece of borrowed low talk. It is obsolete and belongs to historical writing; anywhere else, readers will hear switching something off.

Practice

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Origin

A noun formed from the verb turn off.