to dash off
2
5.1
- phrasal verb
- /dæʃ ɔf/
Examples
-
I'm here... At last, he sat down to dash off something.
Fiction book (1993) -
and not the kind of thing you could dash off in a hurried note or memo.
Academic text (2007) -
Frank smiled and dashed off a response.
Fiction book (2001) -
The submission was about local issues and had to be quickly dashed off, but it has some wider implications.
Blog text (25) -
I had kept the idea in the forefront of his imagination until he finally sat down and dashed off his novel.
Fiction book (1994) -
You see, you don't just dash off a book full of sharply observed, hilarious... yet deeply intelligent essays, to quote The New York Times.
-
Cleaver was outraged and dashed off an open letter to President Boumedienne.
Blog text (18) -
She quickly dashed off a letter to her friend before leaving.
-
He always dashes off his homework without double-checking it.
-
After a brief meeting, Sarah dashed off a report for her boss.
Synonyms
13
6.1
Make something quickly with little effort
5
8.1
To make something quickly with little effort
4
4.1
To send a message quickly without much thought
4
4.4
To write something quickly without much care
1
7.2
To make writing or music quickly without much care
1
7.3
To write something quickly without much effort
1
4.4
To write something quickly without much care
Antonyms
How Quickly
52
3.5
2
5.1
- Informal
33
2.9
122
3.7
- Literature
∞
1.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core verb 'dash' means to rush, so combined with the particle 'off' the phrase conveys doing something quickly; this makes the general sense (perform quickly) reasonably inferable from the parts. However, the specific extension to 'write or create quickly' is a metaphorical use and not strictly predictable from the literal meanings—B1 learners might guess a rapid action but not necessarily that it means 'write' without contextual cues.
Etymology
Dash off comes from the idea of a quick run: dash means a short, fast run and off means 'away'. Imagine moving a pen across the page like a quick run, writing so fast you do not check your work, and that's why it means 'to write or make something quickly, without much care'.