to doze off
35
2.7
- phrasal verb
- /doʊz ɔf/
- Informal
:
dormirse
- She started to doze off during the lecture because it was so boring.
- just dozed off
- dozed off and woke
- doze off again
And in that moment, my mom rushed to like my door and I was, I really like dozing off.
- And in that moment, my mom rushed to like my door and I was, I really like dozing off.
- And so I remember laying down on the couch in the living room with a pillow and just like dozing off.
Examples
-
I must have dozed off.
-
After they had lunch from the basket that Johanna had packed, they both dozed off in the midday heat.
Fiction book (1992) -
I must have dozed off quite late today.
-
Sorry, I must have dozed off.
-
You must have dozed off for a minute.
-
Every night I get in bed and watch you until I doze off.
-
The King began dozing off five minutes after the Assembly opened.
-
I enjoyed the warmth for a while, then dozed off again.
Fiction book (1997) -
Leaning on an old cane, she dozed off on the sofa.
Fiction book (1995) -
Before long, Monsoon, his back propped against the restaurant's concrete back stoop, dozed off, too.
Fiction book (1995)
Synonyms
376
1.0
To start sleeping
43
2.3
To sleep lightly for a short time without meaning to
23
3.8
To slowly fall asleep without meaning to
12
4.1
To fall asleep for a short time without meaning to
7
2.1
To sleep lightly for a short time, often during the day
5
3.0
To fall asleep for a short time, often without meaning to
2
6.1
To be half asleep for a short time
2
7.9
To fall asleep by accident because you are very tired
2
8.3
To fall asleep or pass out very quickly because you are very tired
1
7.6
To fall asleep suddenly because you are very tired
To begin to fall asleep without meaning to
Antonyms
How Intentional
369
1.0
376
1.0
- Informal
35
2.7
- Informal
12
4.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'doze' already means to fall into light, brief sleep and the particle 'off' simply marks movement into that state, so the combined meaning 'to fall asleep unintentionally' is directly derivable from the constituents. This verb+particle composition is a common, compositional pattern in English and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Doze off comes from a simple image: imagine your mind like a light that slowly goes 'off' as you drift into a light sleep. Here doze means a short, light sleep and off shows moving away from being awake, so it means 'to fall asleep for a short time'.