Definition of "draw off"

draw off

verb
third-person singular simple present draws off, present participle drawing off, simple past drew off, past participle drawn off
1. (transitive, idiomatic) To remove by using a siphon.
2. (intransitive) To retire or retreat.
  Quotations
  The dog obeyed the significant beck of his finger, and they drew off, stealthily, together.
  1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […]
  One of the lynxes moved; it drew off a little farther, as though deciding to abandon the fight.
  1966, Robert William Murphy, The Phantom Setter, and Other Stories, page 102