sag off

Verb

sag off (third-person singular simple present sags off, present participle sagging off, simple past and past participle sagged off)

1. To skive; to fail to attend school when required to do so.
   • "I was in the third year at school and I was sagging off with a few of my mates. We were on a building site and two of us got arrested and given a caution. "1995, Angela Devlin, Criminal classes: offenders at school, page 109
   • And you were academically bright, which I certainly had not expected, because Maggie told me how you were always sagging off school, only going in a couple of times a term to fetch books because you were an avid reader.2008, Katie Flynn, Sunshine and Shadows, page 280
2. To back off from an opponent against whom one is defending.
   • The defender playing the man with the ball meets him at the perimeter. The other five defenders will "sag off"their men at varying distances, which are determined by the location of the offensive players. The defender can sag only to the point where he can effectively guard his man if he were to...1978, Robert Scott, Lacrosse: Technique and Tradition, →ISBN, page 101
   • Instead, the on-ball defender (in zone or man) will sag off toward the basket, cutting off passing lanes and adding more help to the interior.2002, Clay Kallam, Girls' Basketball: Building a Winning Program, page 51
3. To move too far leeward when sailing on the wind.
   • The more the backstay is tightened, the less the headstay will sag off to leeward, forming a rigid and more efficient arc along the luff of the genoa while beating to weather.1982 January, Jerry Cartwright, “Cruising Seamanship”, in Motorboating & Sailing, volume 149, number 2, page 23
   • The helmsman allowed her to sag off a little as she rode the wave, and Rennie drew breath to say something — and had to bite his tongue.2008, Peter Smalley, The Hawk, →ISBN
4. To fall in share price.
   • That was considered to be largely in sympathy with the course of the wheat market and a willingness on the part of crushers to permit quotations to sag off before according fresh support.1917, Paint, Oil and Drug Review - Volume 63, page 54
   • Iron and steel prices continued to sag off during the past month.1923, Architectural Forum - Volume 39, Part 1, page 68
5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sag, off.
   • His trousers were sagging off his legs.