rot off

rot off

1. To fall off of or away from something as a result of decomposition or decay. The disease causes patients' flesh to rot off in large patches. The door completely rotted off of the frame.
2. To cause something to fall off of or away from something as a result of decomposition or decay. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "rot" and "off." An infection in the tree is rotting its branches off. The moisture has been rotting off entire sections of the wall.
See also: off, rot
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

rot off

to decompose. If you don't clean and repaint that old windowsill, it will rot off. A few old branches finally rotted off, but the ancient tree looked as if it would survive the wet spell.
See also: off, rot
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • (I've) got to take off
  • be off for (something)
  • be off for sth
  • be off with you
  • break off
  • base off (of) (something else)
  • (Now) where was I?
  • check off
  • be well off for (something)
  • be well off for something
References in classic literature
New paint on the house, and new weatherboards, where the old had begun to rot off, and the agent had got after them!
(may his head rot off!) inquired whether I was my father's son, about which there was no dispute at all with any mortal creature.
Andrea Calland said her nails "rot off, bleed, heal and then regrow"
It's not so sophisticated and the chances are that some of my cuttings will rot off before they start to produce roots, but the principles are the same.
THESE intriguing underwater images show long-forgotten shipwrecks left to rot off the west coast of Ireland.
It usually happens when damp weather persists followed by dry, sunny spells causing the buds to rot off. The plant's health will not be affected.
If you add manure to the soil too close to planting time, the bulbs may rot off in the ground.
SNAPDRAGONS I planted have come up patchy and some have started to rot off. Jenny Wilbur, Huntingdon, Cambs.
Good examples are the cadre of fungi that cause seedlings to rot off at the soil's surface, called "damping off." These fungi are usually present in compost, but when forced to compete with other microorganisms in open soil, they stick to a dead-plant diet.
'The people object to operations as a rule, and they would rather die or allow a limb to rot off, rather than suffer it to be amputated.
MOST liberals would love nothing more than to see our industry rot off the face of the earth and they make no bones about it.
Why do fence posts usually rot off just below ground level?
Seeds are likely not to germinate and cuttings can rot off in the usual misting conditions that most plants need to grow roots.
and if they didn't want their arms to rot off, they'd be wise
Avoid tugging at cuttings to see if they've rooted as more are killed this way than rot off.