draw off

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

draw off (third-person singular simple present draws off, present participle drawing off, simple past drew off, past participle drawn off)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To remove by using a siphon.

   The butler drew off wine from a barrel.

2. (intransitive) To retire or retreat.
   • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

     The dog obeyed the significant beck of his finger, and they drew off, stealthily, together.

   • 1966, Robert William Murphy, The Phantom Setter, and Other Stories, page 102:

     One of the lynxes moved; it drew off a little farther, as though deciding to abandon the fight.

• Wafford, affowrd, ward off