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Glite Dictionary
to walk off with

to walk off with

13 6.5
To take something quickly without the owner's permission, often without being noticed
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : llevarse
  • Last night, Hummel and eleven marines, under the guise of a security exercise, walked off with fifteen V.X. rockets.
  • thief walks off with
  • walked off with millions
  • walk off with the prize

They're small, so you could walk off with them and they're just her.

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Examples

  • The kids managed to walk off with the prizes before anyone noticed.

  • "The three men walked off with approximately 1.6 million dollars.

    Going in Style (2017)

  • I let her walk off with the wine.

    The Inheritance (2024)

  • Later, she walked off with his umbrella.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Oh, we, we, we've had people sometimes just walk off with our food, right.

  • Yeah, and how do I know you won't just walk off with the cash?

    Delivery Man (2013)

  • Two brothers walked off with a Biedermeier chest.

    It Could Happen to You (1994)

  • Last year they ransacked my house, and they walked off with my linen and left my paintings behind.

    Surviving Picasso (1996)

  • I saw him walk off with a bag full of groceries without paying.

  • After the party, someone walked off with my favorite jacket.

Synonyms

to sneak
vsto walk off with
699 2.8

To move or take something quietly so others do not notice

focuses on stealing quickly or easily often without being noticed
to run off
vsto walk off with
  • Informal
260 3.7

To leave a place or person suddenly, often without saying goodbye

focuses on the quick unlawful taking rather than simply leaving a place
to run off with
vsto walk off with
50 5.4

To leave quickly with something stolen or taken without permission

emphasizes the quick theft itself rather than the escape afterwards
to make off
vsto walk off with
19 6.4

To run away quickly after stealing or committing a crime

describes the quick act of taking not just the getaway after crime
to walk off
vsto walk off with
  • Informal
6 7.5

To take something that is not yours and carry it away without asking

is done quickly and often without others noticing
to nim
vsto walk off with
  • Archaic
9.9

To steal something quickly without being noticed

is the modern informal phrase used for quick unnoticed theft
to snatch someone's purse
vsto walk off with
7.7

Grab someone's handbag quickly and run away to steal it

involves taking quickly without notice not usually by force or public struggle

Antonyms

return
231 1.0

An act of giving something back to its owner

Surface Forms

walk off with infinitive
walked off with past
walked off with past participle
walking off with present participle
walks off with third person singular

Morphology

walk + off + with

The parts 'walk' (move), 'off' (away) and 'with' (accompanying) transparently convey the idea of leaving a place while taking something, so a learner can infer a basic 'take away' meaning. However, the specific pragmatic/idiomatic nuance that this often implies taking quickly or surreptitiously––sometimes stealing––is not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so full interpretation requires exposure.

Etymology

Walk off with creates a simple image: someone takes an object and walks off carrying it, leaving while no one notices. So, walk off with means 'to steal' or 'to take something quickly and without being seen'.