back off
verb1
Literally To move backwards away from something.
- I tried to back off slowly from the tiger in my path.
2
Idiomatic To become less aggressive, particularly when one had appeared committed to act.
- You need to back off, or the situation could turn ugly.
- I was going to sue until my legal advisors told me to back off.
1 more example
- Republicans on Capitol Hill, who were gearing up to use Graeme as evidence that Democrats have overexpanded the health program to include families wealthy enough to afford private insurance, have backed off.2007 October 10, David M. Herszenhorn, “Capitol Feud: A 12-Year-Old Is the Fodder”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 09 Nov 2020:
3
Idiomatic To lower the setting of.
- Could you back off the volume a bit? It’s really loud.
4
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see back, off.
- The machine may go back off if it gets too hot. [= turn off again, turn back off].
- Derived terms
- backoff