to chase off
18
3.3
- phrasal verb
- /tʃeɪs ɔf/
- Mills fires back at the two would-be robbers, chasing them off.
- chased off wolves
- chased off the property
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Watch on YouTubeThese kids who had been there almost took the Alice pack and when he had chased them off earlier, they hit it by mistake.
- These kids who had been there almost took the Alice pack and when he had chased them off earlier, they hit it by mistake.
- I mean, I didn't know if there's some bad guy downstairs my dad was chasing off with a gun or, you know, I had no idea.
Examples
-
If the guard saw them, he would chase them off with his stick.
Fiction book (1992) -
When raccoons try to get on our back porch, Momma just chases 'em off with a broom.
Fiction book (1994) -
But just a minute ago she was chasing him off.
-
We chased them off the wall.
-
I keep telling them but they will not listen and Al just keeps chasing them off and keeps attacking them.
-
Henry, you can't go chasing off like that.
-
From dawn to dusk, he could be seen chasing off the flocks of birds that came to feed on his crops.
Fiction book (2000) -
The cormorants moved onto the island in 1983, after managers chased them off a different, treeless island.
Academic text (2009) -
We've crossed rivers, negotiated highways, hurried across slippery blacktop parking lots, and chased off a whole pack of snarling Doberman-mix dogs.
Fiction book (1999) -
When the dog barked loudly, it managed to chase off the intruder lurking in the garden.
Synonyms
124
3.8
Force someone or something to leave a place
93
2.7
To make people or animals go away by frightening them
77
2.5
Make a person or animal go away because they are afraid
75
3.4
To force a person, animal, or feeling to go away
72
4.4
To make someone leave a job by pressure or threats
40
4.7
Make someone or something go away
38
2.6
To make people or things leave by scaring them
35
4.0
Force someone or something to leave using threats
29
6.0
To force someone or something to move away
24
7.9
Make someone leave quickly and forcefully
21
4.1
Force someone or something to move away from danger
11
8.1
Make animals or people who attack you go away
10
7.0
To force someone to leave a place like a bar or club
9
4.1
To make people or animals go away by waving your hand
7
3.3
To make someone or something go away by making them afraid
6
2.8
To make people or animals go away by scaring them
3
7.1
To force someone or something out of a place by searching
3
4.5
To force someone or something out of a place by chasing them
3
5.4
Make a person or animal go away with words and gestures
1
4.0
To force someone to leave a place, group or job
To make someone leave quickly to show they are not wanted
Antonyms
How Forceful
188
5.0
72
4.4
18
3.3
35
4.0
- Informal
14
6.4
- Informal
21
7.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to force someone to leave' is directly and compositionally derived from 'chase' (to pursue) combined with the particle 'off' (away/from a place). This verb + particle pattern is a regular, transparent English construction and is readily inferable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
The phrasal verb chase off comes from a simple picture: someone uses chase to run after and off to send away, like a farmer running at a fox to shoo it from his chickens. So, it means 'to force someone to leave'.