Meaning of go off the reservation | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To leave an Indian reservation to which one was restricted.
   derogatory, literally
2. To break with one's party or group, usually temporarily.
   US
3. To engage in disruptive activity outside normal bounds.
   broadly
4. To act in an independent, uncontrolled, or unauthorized manner.
   broadly

Examples

“The Indian may go off the reservation, he can steal from the whites and run back to the reservation with impunity.”

“This hand was ready to give the works to any physician, a member of the Medical Association in good standing, who'd go off the reservation by daring to serve a medical co-operative on a full-time salary.”

“I'll never forget 1948 when these so called "liberals" (synthetics I call them) went off the reservation and gave New York to Dewey.”

“When the Russians do go off the reservation, as they did early in April 1965, their object is not to challenge the Western allies of yesteryear, the United States, Britain, and France, but to impress upon West Germany their support for East Germany and its claim to West Berlin.”

“The technician mentally recalibrated. "Yes ma'am. An Alpha-9-associated device just went offline unexpectedly." She raised an eyebrow. "Thompson and Adams gone off the res again?"”

CEFR level