takeoff

• take-off

Deverbal from take off.

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takeoff

Wikipedia

takeoff (countable and uncountable, plural takeoffs)

1. A launch or ascent into the air or into flight, such as of an aircraft, rocket, bird, high-jumper etc.

   Coordinate term: landing

   The flight was smooth, but the takeoff was a little rough.

   That high-jumper's takeoff needs some work.

   The mute swan, being one of the world's heaviest flying birds, can have a laborious takeoff.

2. A parody or lampoon of someone or something.

   Weird Al's song "Lasagna" is a takeoff on the popular song "La Bamba".

   • 1897, Edward Bellamy, “ch. 23”, in Equality:

     I came across a little pamphlet of the period, yellow and almost undecipherable, which, on examination, I found to be a rather amusing skit or satirical take-off on the profit system.

   • 1981 February 7, Beth Hodges, Michelle Cliff, “An Interview With Michelle Cliff”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 28, page 8:

     I had originally titled it, On Claiming An Identity They Taught Me To Despise. I said that having been a Renaissance historian, I was doing a take-off of the Latin tracts—"On This," "On That," "On the Beauty of Women."

3. A quantification, especially of building materials.

   I'll give you an estimate after I do the quantity takeoffs for the trusses and structural steel.

4. (printing, UK, historical) The removal of sheets from the press.
5. The spot from which one takes off; specifically, the place from which a jumper rises in leaping.
   • Encyclopaedia of Sport

     The take-off should be selected with great care, and a pit of large dimensions provided on the landing side.

6. (surfing) The initial movement a surfer makes to start riding a wave.
   • 1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer:

     Steamer Lane, home of the world's latest takeoff.

• liftoff

(start of a flight):

• rejected takeoff
• rolling takeoff

• take off

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