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boy off

C1 informal separable transitive
In simple words

To get rid of someone by giving them a weak excuse or dismissing them.

Meanings

1 C1 idiomatic informal

To dismiss or get rid of someone with a weak excuse or evasive answer.

"He tried to boy off the salesman with a claim that he was too busy to talk."

Grammar: separable
Usage notes

Extremely rare. This is a dialectal or archaic variant of 'fob off' found in some regional British dialects. It is not in common use and many native speakers will not recognize it. ESL learners should use 'fob off' or 'brush off' instead.

Forms

Base
boy off
I/you/we/they
3rd person
boys off
he/she/it
Past simple
boyed off
yesterday
Past participle
boyed off
have + pp
-ing form
boying off
continuous

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