English

Verb

go off ‎(third-person singular simple present goes off, present participle going off, simple past went off, past participle gone off)

1. (intransitive) To explode.

   The bomb went off right after the president left his office.‎

2. (intransitive) To fire, especially accidentally.

   The gun went off during their struggle.‎

3. (intransitive) To explode metaphorically; to become very angry.

   When the boss came to know about the scheme, he went off, shouting and throwing everything away.‎

4. (intransitive) To begin clanging or making noise.

   The alarm will go off at six a.m.   Just after he spotted the first plane on the horizon, sirens started to go off around the city.‎

5. (intransitive) To depart; to leave.

   Having sated her appetite, she went off in search of a place to sleep.   I don't know where he's going—he went off without a word.‎

6. (intransitive, Britain, Australia) To putrefy or become inedible, or to become unusable in any way.
   • 1987 September 3, Unpalatable Treatment, New Scientist, page 20,

     But to cast out a technique that could not only reduce the incidence of food poisoning but could also allow us to move away from another bete noire of the “technophobes” — chemical treatment to prevent stored grain from going off— is daft

   • 2005, Neil Perry, The Food I Love, page 13,

     Don′t expect to store fragile food like fish, poultry and meat in the refrigerator at home for a long period of time, as it will go off quickly.

   • 2005, Nancy Abeiderrahmane, Modern Dairy Products from Traditional Camel Herding: An Experience in Mauritania, Bernard Faye, Palmated Esenov (editors), Desertification Combat And Food Safety: The Added Value Of Camel Producers, page 156,

     Although there is a popular myth about camel milk ‘never going off’, experience shows that pasteurised packaged camel milk does not keep any better than its cow equivalent, and seems to lose its flavour faster.

   Bugger—the milk's gone off already!‎

7. (transitive) To like less.

   Ever since falling off my bike, she's gone off cycling to work.‎

8. (intransitive) To pass off; to take place; to be accomplished.
   • Elizabeth Gaskell

     The wedding went off much as such affairs do.

Translations

See also

• go off at score
• go off half-cocked
• go off on one
• go off the boil
• go off the rails
• go off the reservation