on and offadv.adj.n.

1668 F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue II. Pref. 11 I have been now above twelve years, on and off, a professed Practitioner [of bookselling].

1691 T. Southerne Sir Anthony Love (end matter) 79 O! wou'd our peaceful days were come agen; Then I might act it, on and off, a Queen.

1795 M. P. Andrews & F. Reynolds Mysteries of Castle ii. v. 56 That fellow, and his friend Carlos, have been my torment these five years, on and off.

1859 Times 21 Mar. 11/4 The prosecutor stated that he had employed the prisoner on and off for nine years.

1865 ‘L. Carroll’ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland vi. 80 I shall sit here..on and off, for days and days.

1892 Times (Weekly ed.) 21 Oct. 7/3 [He] had lived with her on and off since that time.

1939 W. Saroyan Peace, it's Wonderful 108 Working on trains, or leastaways near them, on and off most of my life since I was eighteen.

1966 Listener 13 Jan. 67/3 Vermeer was at Delft the whole time, and Steen was at Delft on and off in the sixteen-fifties.

1988 M. Chabon Myst. Pittsburgh xviii. 179 She cried on and off for the rest of the day.

2001 K. Sampson Outlaws (2002) 69 It's a downer and it does get to us on and off, depression and that.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. v. 175 Plying on and off till the 6th of October.

1938 Motor Boating Feb. 14/1 In 1910, I was a member of the crew of the two-masted schooner Sada... For five hours we stood on and off. I could see the lights of my own house and I was anxious to get home.

1855 R. Browning Bishop Blougram 789 It shoots..Halfway into the next still, on and off!

1877 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunting Songs 104 They may jump on and off o'er the broken stone heap, In triangular fenders find timber to leap.

1881 E. D. Brickwood in Encycl. Brit. XII. 197/2 Hedges on banks..are usually of such a size as to make flying them impossible, or at least undesirable. Horses jump them on and off.

1668 J. Denham Poems I. 54 Amongst the Roar of these, and the mad shout Of a poor nothing understanding Rout, That think the On-and-Off-Peace now is true.

1859 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunting Songs (new ed.) 100 Which method best insures us from a fall, The Chester on-and-off step, or the Leicester, clearing all?

1874 A. Trollope Phineas Redux II. xxxiv. 278 [The engagement] was off and on, and on and off, and he was in a most wretched condition.

1904 Westm. Gaz. 13 Jan. 2/3 The buyer resented this on-and-off policy.

1965 T. Capote In Cold Blood (1966) i. 4 She had been an on-and-off psychiatric patient the last half-dozen years.

1985 L. Blue Kitchen Blues 76 I am an on-and-off sort of semi-vegetarian.

1999 E. Afr. Standard (Nairobi) 28 July (Midweek section) 3/4 His father does on and off woodwork to earn an income.

1839 H. F. Gould Poems II. 7 At length, the proud O'Donaghue Began to jeer and scoff, Because the cover must go through This putting on and off.

1852 R. S. Surtees Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour i. iii. 12 They then made for a large field at the back of the house, with leaping-bars, hurdles, ‘on and offs’, ‘ins and outs’, all sorts of fancy leaps scattered about.

1895 M. M. Dowie Gallia 119 I love to feel the on and off of the break and to watch the way the pole seems to feel its way through the traffic.

1984 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring–Summer 253 Attractive print blouse buttons at shoulder for convenient on and off.

1991 House Beautiful Kitchens/Baths Winter Insert 8/3 (advt.) New ballasts..give an almost instant on and off, so no more ‘fluorescent flicker’.

1888 E. J. Goodman Too Curious xiii As well as she ever is. Rather on-and-offish.