Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - put off

1. If you put something off, you delay doing it. Women who put off having a baby often make the best mothers... The Association has put the event off until October. = postpone PHRASAL VERB: V P -ing/n (not pron), V n P 2. If you put someone off, you make them wait for something that they want. The old priest tried to put them off, saying that the hour was late. PHRASAL VERB: V n P 3. If something puts you off something, it makes you dislike it, or decide not to do or have it. The high divorce figures don’t seem to be putting people off marriage... His personal habits put them off... The country’s worsening reputation does not seem to be putting off the tourists... We tried to visit the Abbey but were put off by the queues. PHRASAL VERB: V n P n/-ing, V n P, V P n (not pron), be V-ed P 4. If someone or something puts you off, they take your attention from what you are trying to do and make it more difficult for you to do it. She asked me to be serious–said it put her off if I laughed... It put her off revising for her exams. = distract PHRASAL VERB: V n P, V n P n/-ing