'To wear off' definitions:

Definition of 'To wear off'

From: GCIDE
  • Wear \Wear\, v. i.
  • 1. To endure or suffer use; to last under employment; to bear the consequences of use, as waste, consumption, or attrition; as, a coat wears well or ill; -- hence, sometimes applied to character, qualifications, etc.; as, a man wears well as an acquaintance. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To be wasted, consumed, or diminished, by being used; to suffer injury, loss, or extinction by use or time; to decay, or be spent, gradually. "Thus wore out night." --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • Away, I say; time wears. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou and this people that is with thee. --Ex. xviii. 18. [1913 Webster]
  • His stock of money began to wear very low. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]
  • The family . . . wore out in the earlier part of the century. --Beaconsfield. [1913 Webster]
  • To wear off, to pass away by degrees; as, the follies of youth wear off with age.
  • To wear on, to pass on; as, time wears on. --G. Eliot.
  • To wear weary, to become weary, as by wear, long occupation, tedious employment, etc. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'To wear off'

From: GCIDE
  • Wear \Wear\, v. t. [imp. Wore (w[=o]r); p. p. Worn (w[=o]rn); p. pr. & vb. n. Wearing. Before the 15th century wear was a weak verb, the imp. & p. p. being Weared.] [OE. weren, werien, AS. werian to carry, to wear, as arms or clothes; akin to OHG. werien, weren, to clothe, Goth. wasjan, L. vestis clothing, vestire to clothe, Gr. "enny`nai, Skr. vas. Cf. Vest.] [1913 Webster]
  • 1. To carry or bear upon the person; to bear upon one's self, as an article of clothing, decoration, warfare, bondage, etc.; to have appendant to one's body; to have on; as, to wear a coat; to wear a shackle. [1913 Webster]
  • What compass will you wear your farthingale? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To have or exhibit an appearance of, as an aspect or manner; to bear; as, she wears a smile on her countenance. "He wears the rose of youth upon him." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • His innocent gestures wear A meaning half divine. --Keble. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To use up by carrying or having upon one's self; hence, to consume by use; to waste; to use up; as, to wear clothes rapidly. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To impair, waste, or diminish, by continual attrition, scraping, percussion, on the like; to consume gradually; to cause to lower or disappear; to spend. [1913 Webster]
  • That wicked wight his days doth wear. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • The waters wear the stones. --Job xiv. 19. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To cause or make by friction or wasting; as, to wear a channel; to wear a hole. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To form or shape by, or as by, attrition. [1913 Webster]
  • Trials wear us into a liking of what, possibly, in the first essay, displeased us. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
  • To wear away, to consume; to impair, diminish, or destroy, by gradual attrition or decay.
  • To wear off, to diminish or remove by attrition or slow decay; as, to wear off the nap of cloth.
  • To wear on or To wear upon, to wear. [Obs.] "[I] weared upon my gay scarlet gites [gowns.]" --Chaucer.
  • To wear out. (a) To consume, or render useless, by attrition or decay; as, to wear out a coat or a book. (b) To consume tediously. "To wear out miserable days." --Milton. (c) To harass; to tire. "[He] shall wear out the saints of the Most High." --Dan vii. 25. (d) To waste the strength of; as, an old man worn out in military service.
  • To wear the breeches. See under Breeches. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]

Words containing 'To wear off'