To go off, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To take place; to occur.
1866. Mrs. Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, ch. xiv. The wedding went off much as such affairs do.
2. (colloquial).—To be disposed of (as goods on sale, or a woman in marriage).
1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 208. Miss Malderton was as well known as the lion on the top of Northumberland House, and had an equal chance of going off.
3. (colloquial).—To deteriorate (as fish by keeping, or a woman with years).
1883. Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Apr., p. 3, c. 2. Shotover rather went off in the Autumn, and her Leger preparation was not altogether satisfactory.
1892. Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 422, c. 3. To those … who are apt to go off colour, so to speak, through injudicious indulgence at table.
4. (colloquial).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.
1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, v., 7. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived: Some must go off.
1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 368 (Ed. 1857). She’s dead, God bless her, and thank him for it!—was seized with a fit and went off.