off the tools

Meanings

1. 1phrasefixed phraseBritishinformal

   No longer working with your hands in a trade, usually because you now manage or teach others.

   Grammar: Comes after be or get: he's off the tools; she got off the tools last year.

   Patterns

   • be off the tools
   • get off the tools
   • put someone off the tools

   After ten years as a joiner, he's off the tools and running the workshop.

   She got off the tools when she started teaching apprentices at the college.

   Some electricians miss the site work once they're off the tools.

2. 2phrasefixed phraseBritishinformal

   Not able to do your normal manual work, for example because of injury or illness.

   Grammar: Often used with be or be kept: he's been off the tools since the accident.

   Patterns

   • be off the tools
   • be off the tools for a while

   A back injury kept him off the tools for six months.

   The plasterer has been off the tools since his shoulder operation.

Common combinations

be off the tools

He's off the tools now and spends his days quoting jobs.

get off the tools

Getting off the tools meant a pay cut at first, but he preferred the office.

put someone off the tools

The accident put him off the tools for good.

back on the tools

After the busy season he was back on the tools.

Synonyms and how they differ

out of the trade

This can mean you have left the trade completely, while off the tools often means you still work in it but no longer by hand.

in the office

A plainer description of the same situation, but it does not suggest manual work in the first place.

Opposites

Commonly confused: off the tools or down tools?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “off the tools”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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