CARRY OFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does carry off mean? 

• CARRY OFF (verb)
  The verb CARRY OFF has 3 senses:

1. be successful; achieve a goal

2. remove from a certain place, environment, or mental or emotional state; transport into a new location or state

3. kill in large numbers

  Familiarity information: CARRY OFF used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CARRY OFF (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be successful; achieve a goal

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

bring off; carry off; manage; negociate; pull off

Context example:

The pianist negociated the difficult runs

Hypernyms (to "carry off" is one way to...):

bring home the bacon; come through; deliver the goods; succeed; win (attain success or reach a desired goal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Remove from a certain place, environment, or mental or emotional state; transport into a new location or state

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

bear away; bear off; carry away; carry off; take away

Context example:

I got carried away when I saw the dead man and I started to cry

Hypernyms (to "carry off" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

"Carry off" entails doing...:

go away; go forth; leave (go away from a place)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "carry off"):

spirit away (carry away rapidly and secretly, as if mysteriously)

spirit away; spirit off (carry off mysteriously; as if by magic)

whisk away; whisk off (take away quickly and suddenly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Kill in large numbers

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

annihilate; carry off; decimate; eliminate; eradicate; extinguish; wipe out

Context example:

the plague wiped out an entire population

Hypernyms (to "carry off" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Verb group:

decimate (kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

 Context examples 

The two elder brothers would have pulled it down, in order to see how the poor ants in their fright would run about and carry off their eggs.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

But when he got over the boat, and wanted to pounce upon them and carry off the princess, the huntsman took up his bow and shot him straight through the heart so that he fell down dead.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)