go off

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.
   • You see the thing had gone off like a box of matches.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213
2. (intransitive) To fire, especially accidentally.
   • The gun went off during their struggle.
3. (figuratively, intransitive) To explode metaphorically; to become very angry or overexcited.
   • It all went off when the opposing teams' fans met at the railway station.
   • 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 stop operating; to switch off.
   • We were watching TV when suddenly the power went off.
6. (intransitive) Of dairy cattle, to stop producing milk.
   • ‘I suppose no other mahn in th’ district feeds as well as I do, and yet they’re goin’ off - goin’ off to th’ very divil.’1911, ‘Steel Rudd’, The Book of Dan, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, published 1970, page 63
7. (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.
8. (Australia, Canada, UK, intransitive) To putrefy or become inedible, or to become unusable in any way.
   • Bugger—the milk's gone off already!
   • 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 daft1987 September 3, Unpalatable Treatment, New Scientist, page 20

   Synonyms:

   go sour, spoil

9. (transitive) To like gradually less.
   • Ever since falling off her bike, she's gone off cycling to work.
   • We needed a vet visit because some of the cattle had gone off their feed.
10. (UK, intransitive) To cure; to set.
    • I've got to get the panels aligned quickly now because the epoxy resin will go off within 20 minutes or so.
11. (intransitive) To pass off; to take place; to be accomplished; to happen.
    • The party went off very well.
    • The wedding went off much as such affairs do.1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC
12. (slang) To ejaculate; to orgasm.

    Synonyms:

    ejaculate, cum