off book

prepositional phrase

No longer needing the script to rehearse.

“After 5 days studying the script, Jane is now off book, and can concentrate on gesture more.”

Opposite
on book
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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. entertainmentNo longer needing the script to rehearse.

    After 5 days studying the script, Jane is now off book, and can concentrate on gesture more.

    3 more examples

    "He will glibly parse a sentence ... and repeat the catechism and whole chapters of the Bible 'off book.'"

    1873, Thomas Wright, Our New Masters, Strahan & Co., page 125

    "In all likelihood, the director will leave you alone throughout the rest of the production and focus attention on the guy who isn't off book yet."

    1993, Doug Moston, Coming to Terms with Acting, →ISBN, page 74

    "'So if Antigone wants to be off book, I think the rest of you should be off book too.'"

    2003, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, Picador,, →ISBN, page 332

    Antonyms: on book

  2. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of off book value (“below book value”).

    "in the winter of 1957-58 prices were 60 percent off book."

    1963, Richard Austin Smith, Corporations in Crisis, Doubleday, page 74

Synonyms & antonyms

prepositional phraseNo longer needing the script to rehearse.

Opposite
on book
Cite this entry
APA

off book. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off%20book

MLA

“off book.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off%20book. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “off book,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off%20book.

Source: off book on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.