off guard

Related to off guard: catch off guard

off (one's) guard

Not being especially careful or vigilant; not prepared for danger or surprises; being careless or inattentive. He's got a lot of tricky moves, so don't be caught off your guard! We'll wait until he's off his guard, and then we'll take him and his company for all they're worth!
See also: guard, off

off guard

Temporarily not careful or vigilant; unprepared for danger or surprises. I'll be honest, the question caught me off guard. I should have been more prepared for the interview. If we catch the defense off guard, this could be a big play.
See also: guard, off
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

off guard

Also, off one's guard. Not watchful, easily surprised. It is often put as catch (or be caught) off guard, meaning "take (or be taken) by surprise." For example, The securities analyst was caught off guard by that financial report, or With any luck the boss will be off guard when I come in late. [Late 1600s] The antonym, on guard or on one's guard, meaning "watchful or prepared, especially to defend oneself," was first recorded in 1577. For example, In this crowd we must be on guard against pickpockets, or I'm always on my guard when I'm asked how I voted.
See also: guard, off
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

off (one's) guard

Not alert; unprepared.
See also: guard, off
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • be like ships in the night
  • not for a second
  • hope not
  • (I) hope not
  • not for a minute
  • not for a moment
  • aint
  • ain't
  • not for a instant
  • not for a/one minute/moment/second/instant
References in periodicals archive
"I don't want a farm manager to be caught off guard."
The team from MTV2's "Mother Truckin' Summer" caught Rix Pool and Spa owner Jim Silverstein off guard when they came in to purchase a portable spa.
Larry is caught off guard by these changes, as well as by changes in himself.
Masters, caught off guard, were unceremoniously killed, sugarcane fields set afire, and one plantation after another, destroyed.
Four canvases catch a man and a woman off guard, embracing in the park: "Sun," one of them announces, and the couple seems haloed by a star-shaped structure, a graphic sign of splendor and radiance, while the rest of the series displays a wordless romance, a silent exchange by way of enigmatic and out-of-sequence gestures.
India's 1998 nuclear test caught America completely off guard. Indeed, the State Department learned of the test from CNN, and the CIA learned about it from the State Department.
For some reason it just caught me off guard and provided a good, long, painful laugh.
Q: A key employee recently quit, and I was caught off guard. What can I do to avoid this happening again?
We periodically encounter unexpected and unpleasant circumstances in life that catch us off guard: a flat tire, a broken tooth, flooding in our home during a rain, a death in the family.
Don't be caught off guard by the fact that ongoing fees are necessary in real estate investments.
The government, for its part, blames an unexpected 16.2% surge in industrial activity last year for catching private investors off guard. In any case, Argentina's substantial gas supplies have languished from a peak of 18 years of reserves in 2000 to 12 years of reserves now.
The theories fall into two categories: the attack was a brilliant piece of offensive planning complemented by a fair share of luck and unprepared American forces; or the current thinking which says that although caught off guard, the Americans had ample warnings right up until the first Japanese bomb hit its target just before 0800 but ignored the signals and suffered the consequences.
How many times have you been caught off guard by game that approached your position from behind?
Not surprisingly, depression often catches dancers off guard, particularly in a culture that prizes stoicism.
I was completely caught off guard the first time someone asked for my autograph!