HEAD OFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does head off mean? 

• HEAD OFF (verb)
  The verb HEAD OFF has 1 sense:

1. prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening

  Familiarity information: HEAD OFF used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HEAD OFF (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

avert; avoid; debar; deflect; fend off; forefend; forfend; head off; obviate; stave off; ward off

Context example:

avert a strike

Hypernyms (to "head off" is one way to...):

forbid; foreclose; forestall; preclude; prevent (keep from happening or arising; make impossible)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

Your stepsister has long deserved death; tonight when she is asleep I will come and cut her head off.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“The prince would take your head off for those words.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"You must excuse me for taking your head off, but I shall have to do it in order to put your brains in their proper place."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that they had for scarin' the crows with.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He got mad when I spoke of interest, an' he said damn the principal and if I mentioned it again, he'd punch my Dutch head off.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Only one thing I claim—I claim Trelawney. I'll wring his calf's head off his body with these hands, Dick!” he added, breaking off.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

So I got grandpa to say it was high time we did something, and off I pelted to the office yesterday, for the doctor looked sober, and Hannah most took my head off when I proposed a telegram.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"You are quite welcome to take my head off, as long as it will be a better one when you put it on again."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

In the night, the old woman came creeping in, she held an axe in her right hand, and felt with her left to see if anyone were lying at the outside, and then she grasped the axe with both hands, and cut her own child’s head off.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)