go off the reservation

present singular third person goes off the reservation · participle present going off the reservation · past went off the reservation · participle past gone off the reservation

1. derogatoryliterallyTo leave an Indian reservation to which one was restricted.

   The Indian may go off the reservation, he can steal from the whites and run back to the reservation with impunity.

   1872 April 10, United States Congress, The Congressional Globe, page 2332

   Synonyms: go beyond the pale, go off the res, go off the rez, go rogue, jump the reservation

2. USgovernmentTo break with one's party or group, usually temporarily.

   I'll never forget 1948 when these so called "liberals" (synthetics I call them) went off the reservation and gave New York to Dewey.

   1960 January 31, Harry S Truman, “Dear Joe”, in Monte M. Poen, editor, Strictly Personal and Confidential: The Letters Harry Truman Never Mailed, published 1999, →ISBN, page 137

   1 more example

   This hand was ready to give the works to any physician, a member of the Medical Association in good standing, who'd go off the reservation by daring to serve a medical co-operative on a full-time salary.

   1943, Paul De Kruif, Kaiser Wakes the Doctors, page 79

3. broadlyTo engage in disruptive activity outside normal bounds.

   When the Russians do go off the reservation, as they did early in April 1965, their object is not to challenge the Western allies of yesteryear, the United States, Britain, and France, but to impress upon West Germany their support for East Germany and its claim to West Berlin.

   1965, Drew Middleton, The Atlantic Community: A Study in Unity and Disunity, page 186

4. broadlyTo act in an independent, uncontrolled, or unauthorized manner.

   The technician mentally recalibrated. "Yes ma'am. An Alpha-9-associated device just went offline unexpectedly." She raised an eyebrow. "Thompson and Adams gone off the res again?"

   2021 November 14, HarryBlank, “Over/”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2023