Make off without payment is a legal phrase for leaving a service (restaurant, taxi, hotel) without paying. UK criminal offence under the Theft Act 1978. Not concerning vocabulary; concerning behaviour. If your kid uses it constantly, ask them where they first heard it, not to police their speech but to understand which online community they are in. Most slang of this kind moves through TikTok and group chats, so seeing it in your child's vocabulary just means they are plugged into normal teen internet culture.
make off without payment
(UK, law, formal) To commit the criminal offence of making off without payment.
Definitions
UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK
(UK, law, formal) To commit the criminal offence of making off without payment.
For parents
Make off without payment is a legal phrase for leaving a service (restaurant, taxi, hotel) without paying. UK criminal offence under the Theft Act 1978. Not concerning vocabulary; concerning behaviour. If your kid uses it constantly, ask them where they first heard it, not to police their speech but to understand which online community they are in. Most slang of this kind moves through TikTok and group chats, so seeing it in your child's vocabulary just means they are plugged into normal teen internet culture.
For ESL learners
Make off without payment is a UK legal phrase describing the criminal offence of leaving a service without paying, established by the Theft Act 1978 (Section 3). Use in UK legal contexts. Formal equivalent: "make off without payment" (the statutory term) or "bilking." Common non-native mistake: confusing with theft (different legal definition). In UK law these are distinct offences. Read or listen to the word in context several times before trying it yourself; the right register is harder to learn than the dictionary meaning.
Cluster: criminal
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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UK
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
Tags
Other words near "make off without payment" (M)
make meatmake moanmake niceMakennamake noiseMakenziemake outmake overmake shit ofmake shit shakemake the best of a bad jobmake the cheese more binding
Browse all slang words starting with M.
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(UK, law, formal) The criminal offence of bilking.
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To avoid consequences or assist in the avoidance of consequences.
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(idiomatic, chiefly, UK, and, India) To depart from a place; to set off.
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(slang, transitive, UK) To sentence (someone) to prison.
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(idiomatic, British, euphemistic) Of an item of merchandise, to come into a person's possession without having been paid for; to have been acquired illegally.