first off
77
2.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
para empezar
- First off, you need to understand that I go way back in this business.
- Well, first off
- first off, I want
- first off, let me
I would say, you know, First off, learn your craft, right?
- I would say, you know, First off, learn your craft, right?
- He came over and I go, OK, First off, it's my girlfriend.
- Just such a fun read, First off, so casual and fun.
- It's just like, First off, the unpleasantness of it.
- Our best options are, First off, no longer have memory Dos's.
- Now doing this integral, First off this constant term comes out.
- OK, now I can't diagnose your daughter because First off, I've never met her right?
- She was just like well First off have you like have you cleansed your house?
Examples
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Okay, now, first off, what I need is to hear from you what happened.
-
And for me, well, First off, just a little about my background.
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Yes, the way this game works, I OK, First off, it is a very complex game.
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OK, so, uh, first off, I just want to say how glad I am we're all here together.
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First off, we'll do things a step at a time.
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First off, I would like to apologize.
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First off, you said it was $1,000.
-
First off, Inspector Field sat us down before the fire to give us a full report.
Fiction book (1990) -
"First off," he said, his voice crisp with suppressed anger, "I did not set you up."
Fiction book (1995) -
first off, let me explain the rules of the game before we start.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Before anything else or at the beginning
890
1.0
To say the first or most important point at the start of a talk
551
3.4
To give the main or first reason
395
3.2
At first, before things change
274
2.3
At the start before anything else happens
52
3.7
To say which person or thing comes first
50
1.0
To give the first reason or point in a list
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to introduce the first point' is directly derivable from 'first' (at the beginning) with 'off' functioning as a colloquial particle marking the starting point; together they transparently signal 'before anything else.' This usage parallels 'first of all' and similar discourse markers in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily understand it.
Etymology
First off may come from the simple image of taking the first item 'off' a pile or list to handle it. So when someone says first off, they mean 'before anything else' or 'to start with'.