Meaning of cream off | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To extract the cream or creamy part from something.
2. To separate (the best part of something from the regular part).
3. To use a cream (cold cream) to remove something (usually makeup, from one's face).
4. To earn, or embezzle, a percentage of a profit.
   figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“Manuel points out that the real cost of corruption is not what is actually embezzled or creamed off the top: The best thing these people could do is just take from the public treasury directly, because that would be much less expensive.”

“For entirely self-serving reasons, ministers and civil servants never dispelled the public belief that uncaring 'fat cat' privateers or foreign state railways were in control, ramping up fares and creaming off profits which either enriched shareholders or subsidised European rail fares. DfT left train operators to 'take the heat' - which they dutifully did, fearful of speaking up and 'biting the hand that feeds'.”

“According to Wagenknecht, only migration between countries of similar levels of economic development is unproblematic. Conversely, attracting skilled migrants from developing and transition countries to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries is a net loss for their societies of origin. It is a convenient way for rich countries to cream off human resources—such as expensively-trained medical doctors, nurses and engineers.”

CEFR level