English

Alternative forms

• offof

Preposition

off of

1. (now colloquial) Off; from. [from 15th c.]
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part 2, First Folio 1623, III.1:

     Card. What, art thou lame?

     Simpc. I, God Almightie helpe me.

     Suff. How cam'st thou so?

     Simpc. A fall off of a Tree.

   • 1740, Samuel Richardson, Pamela:

     Do, my dearest child, get me off of this difficulty, and I can have no other [...].

   • 1928, "Eye of Gawd", Time, 28 Sep 1928:

     "The green curtains that hung there for years and years... have been taken down and the blood-red cardinal velvet curtains have been hung up, and they have taken the green top off of the President's desk and put a red one on that..."

   • 1967, Bob Crewe / Bob Gaudio, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You":

     You're just too good to be true / I Can't take my eyes off of you.

   • 1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage 2015, p. 13:

     Though it was only bass and drums I could hear, you could tell it was that (Don't Fear) The Reaper, offof Some Enchanted Evening.

Usage notes

• The use of off of as a preposition is now considered tautological and/or incorrect by some usage guides and is not suitable for formal or business use. Off of can be replaced with on, "from" or off: "This is based on (based off of) his first book"; "He took a paper off (off of) his desk". "I got the information from ("off of") the Internet"