to stay off
57
2.6
- phrasal verb
:
mantenerse alejado de
- Stay off the street!
And please stay off the field to allow the players and touches.
- And please stay off the field to allow the players and touches.
- Whoever you are, you are as tacky as you are inconsiderate and stay off of my property.
- Jaywalking was not an offence that was pushed by the car companies so that people would stay off the road so there wouldn't be deaths from pedestrians getting hit.
- Stay off those rooftops, stay off the pills, keep it together because the stats are out there.
- He has no curls to him and I told my daughter we don't bought a bootleg poodle and he won't stay off of his hind legs.
Examples
-
The protesters stayed off the buses until Rosa's case reached the Supreme Court.
Fiction book (1999) -
Community leaders called for people to stay off the buses on the day of Rosa's trial to protest her arrest.
Fiction book (1999) -
Doctor says I have to stay off of it.
-
Doctor: He'll be fine, but he'll have to stay off that leg.
Fiction book (1999) -
My advice to them is to stay off the street as best you can.
Blog text (33) -
All I have to do is stay off coffee and booze.
Fiction book (1998) -
Stay off the road, and let the road cleaners do their work.
-
You better stay off those trains, kiddo.
-
People in town knew to stay off the roads when Doreen Kelly got behind the wheel.
Fiction book (1999) -
The authorities warned everyone to stay off the icy sidewalks to prevent accidents.
Synonyms
384
2.3
Avoid going near people or places for safety
187
1.6
Stop someone or something from coming near
127
2.4
To stay away from a place, person, or thing
31
1.0
To stay outside a place and not go in
Antonyms
How Avoidant
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to avoid entering or walking onto a particular place or surface' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'stay' (remain) with 'off' (away from a surface). This verb+particle composition follows a common English pattern (and similar constructions exist cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrasal verb stay off comes from the simple image of someone staying back and keeping their feet off something, like wet grass or a freshly painted floor. That's why it means 'to avoid entering or walking onto' a place or surface.