to spin off
11
4.3
- phrasal verb
- /spɪn ɔf/
- The 11-year-old company was founded in February 2001, spun off from Maine Poly.
- spin off a company
- firm spun off
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Watch on YouTubeAnd each of these manages to spin off other things on the way as well.
- And each of these manages to spin off other things on the way as well.
- Like how do you spin off a film into TV?
- I'll give you one example of actually a company that spun off from our company, which is these.
- For example, a flow of water through a pipe can create vortices that spin off, that spin off.
- Frazier was created by Angel, Casey and Lee, who came to us and said they wanted to spin Frazier off.
- And so I spun off DIRECTV to my shareholders and took my shares in DIRECTV and had to put them in a voting blind trust, right?
- So actually one of the projects that spun off from our work was born here at Stanford.
- So, you know, Dragon Riders of Pern spins off all sorts of interesting matters.
Examples
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Then in 1999, Viacom spun off Blockbuster and took the company public, bringing in $465 million in its initial public offering, while at the same time leaving it saddled with massive debt.
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During the 1990s, he explained, Detroit automakers spun off their parts manufacturing operations.
Academic text (2004) -
That whole command and control system for space the US runs, we're trying to spin off parts of it.
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Like how do you spin off a film into TV?
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And each of these manages to spin off other things on the way as well.
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For example, an auto manufacturer may spin off a company or companies that make various auto parts.
Academic text (1999) -
As a result, many of the large public accounting firms have sold or spun off their consulting practices.
Academic text (2004) -
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" spun off "Rhoda," "Phyllis," and "Lou Grant."
Blog text (3) -
Marriott's time-share business was spun off last year into Marriott Vacations Worldwide (VAC).
Blog text (17) -
The company plans to spin off its software division to focus on its core business.
Synonyms
To create a new business from part of a larger company
To separate part of a company to make it an independent business
To copy a code project so someone can work on it separately
How Independent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The particle 'off' signals separation/removal, which gives learners a clue that something is detached from a larger entity, but 'spin' does not literally mean 'create' and the specific sense of forming a new business or byproduct is a metaphorical extension. An average B1 learner who knows the parts may infer a general sense of separation but would not reliably derive the precise 'create a separate company/product' meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
The phrasal verb spin off may come from the picture of something that spins and then comes off a larger wheel, coming away to be a separate part. So when a company or project 'spins off' something, it creates a 'new company' or 'separate product' that started from the original.