look off

look (a little/bit) off

1. To look sickly, unwell, or out of sorts, either physically or mentally. You're looking a little off, Jim. Are you feeling all right? That dog on the corner looks a bit off. I think we should walk another way home.
2. To appear somewhat strange, incorrect, inaccurate, or substandard. A: "The rest of your portrait is coming along really well, but the hands look a bit off." B: "I know, hands are just so hard to draw!" The gameplay is great, but the characters' faces look a little off.
3. Of food, to appear spoiled or rotten. These chicken breasts look a little bit off—I don't think we should risk it.
See also: little, look, off

look off

In sports, especially American football, to mislead an opponent with one's eyes as to one's intentions in a given play. A noun or pronoun can be used between "look" and "off." Looking off the free safety, the quarterback made an incredible pass to his wide receiver down the center of the field. I looked the defender off and hucked it to the end zone.
See also: look, off
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • look (a little/bit) off
  • a little off
  • be a little off
  • be a bit off
  • a bit off
  • bit off
  • Are you feeling better?
  • back-breaking
  • on the sick list
  • sick list
References in classic literature
I could hardly wait to see what lay beyond that cornfield; but there was only red grass like ours, and nothing else, though from the high wagon-seat one could look off a long way.
Nay, in the suspense and mystery of the latter question, involving that of where you may be now, there is a solemnity even added to that of death, making us who are in attendance alike afraid to look on you and to look off you, and making those below start at the least sound of a creaking plank in the floor.
"Now look off yonder to the East," said the old man, as he began to lead the way across the murky and still smoking plain; "little fear of cold feet in journeying such a path as this: but look you off to the East, and if you see a sheet of shining white, glistening like a plate of beaten silver through the openings of the smoke, why that is water.
You certainly don't need to live by the sea to pull this look off. Just add wall panelling and natural textures mixed with fresh blues, whites and creams for this colonial sanctum.
The musical features the charttopping Take That Look Off Your TICKETS For tickets, which cost PS26, call the Box Office on 01745 330000 or book on-line at www.rhylpavilion.co.uk Face and title track Tell Me on A Sunday.
And why not finish that living room look off with a roaring fire to make a cosy focal point.
"When you look off the field we have increased our support and our sponsorship, things are looking better, but on the pitch we haven't done it.
EMMERDALE Mon-Fri ITV Alicia's nerves are in shreds as the court case looms on Thursday and David, for one, is struggling not to knock the smug look off creepy Lachlan's face as the unrepentant teen rocks up at the courtroom.
If you want to pull that look off without it looking disastrous, simply follow the color wheel.
She was on time, she knew her lines, hit every mark, made us look off our game...And then we had to deal with day two," the former 'Two and a Half Men' star told Leno.
She sang a scorching version of Take That Look Off Your Face - Married Man was another belter - and helped rescue a stream of slow, sub-prime Webber songs by some poignant acting.
(Look off in the distance occasionally to make it look like you're thinking deeply.) Or, see if you can get someone else to ask the questions.
If stepping away is impractical, I simply close my eyes or look off into the distance.
Supermodel Liz looked stunning in a beautiful powder blue frock, while Jade Jagger carried the new blonde look off beautifully with a bit of hippie boho chic.
The reference for this was of course Walker Evans's subway portraits of 1938-41, but with a difference: Whereas Evans's subtly differentiated subjects sit across the central aisle from him and are variously framed from one shot to another, Delahaye's photos seem to have been taken at very close range, with his subjects' heads occupying most of the rectangle and their features depicted in sharp focus and strong contrasts of light and shadow as they look off to one side or the other--anywhere, we feel, but at the photographer.