fall off

Verb

fall off (third-person singular simple present falls off, present participle falling off, simple past fell off, past participle fallen off)

1. (intransitive, transitive) To become detached or to drop from.
   • A button fell off my coat.
   • Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet. For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.1900, L. Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

   Synonyms:

   drop off

2. (intransitive) To diminish in size, value, etc.; to get worse (in quality).
   • Business always falls off in the winter.
   • MC ___'s new album is wack - he's fallen off big-time.

   Synonyms:

   drop off

3. To change the direction of a sail so as to point in a direction that is more down wind; to bring the bow leeward.
   • 'Why d'ye see, Captain Vangs,' says bold Jack, 'I'm as good a helmsman as ever put hand to spoke; but none of us can steer the old lady now. We can't keep her full and bye, sir; watch her ever so close, she will fall off and then, sir, when I put the helm down so gently, and try like to coax her to...1846, Melville, Typee, chapter 1
   • She would not mind her helm, but would fall off; she would settle down aft and take in water over her stern, and plunged heavily forward.1854, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Lawrence v. Minturn, Opinion of the Court
4. (intransitive) To fall into sin; to stray.
   • I am bound to say that no one has fallen off so frequently as myself. I have renounced the devil and all his works; but it is by word of mouth only—by word of mouth only.1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage