I Swear English › Phrasal Verbs › Work Off
What does ‘Work Off’ mean?
Related forms: (transitive)(separable)
To reduce slowly with time, work or effort, to diminish gradually. Literally it means to decrease through work. This phrasal verb is used for payment of a debt by installments. It is similar to pay off. If you are overweight you could work off the extra weight through diet and exercise. If someone was angry they might work off the anger by taking exercise.
“You can work off the debt in twelve installments”.
“I need to work off these extra pounds that I gained over Christmas”.
“After the argument he went for a walk to work off his anger”.
To work one's tail (US), butt or arse off (UK) is an informal expression that means to work very hard. To put a lot of effort into something.
“He worked his arse off to get that promotion”.
“He worked his butt of doing that project”.
“I spend my life working my arse off and I never have anything to show for it”.
“Notice off work is a phrase we use when someone is ill and cannot work. John's off work with back problems”.
Watch: ‘Work Off’ explained
Video transcript
Hi there. To work off. To reduce slowly to diminish. To make smaller. For example: I'm very fat and I'm going to go on diet to work off some of these extra kilos. To reduce slowly. Um... I have a big debt with the bank, but I've been working it off slowly. I've been reducing it. OK, um... I feel very drunk, I've drunk too much, I am going to go for a walk to work it off, to work off the alcohol. To reduce the effects of. To reduce the amount in my system. Yes. He was very angry, so I told him to go for a walk, to work it off, or walk it off, but work it off. So, notice one thing that's important, off work is completely different to work off. OK, if you are off work, you are ill, you are not working, you have the day off work. OK, a non-working day. OK. Work off, to reduce. OK, to reduce slowly. So, there you go. Thanks for watching. See you in another video.
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