off with the fairies
Lost in thought
Off with the fairies describes someone lost in daydream or detached from reality—mentally elsewhere, not paying attention to what's happening around them.
The phrase suggests a whimsical, innocent kind of distraction, as if the person has wandered into a fairy realm: I asked him twice but he was off with the fairies.
Chiefly British and Australian.
- woolgatheringAbsent-minded indulgence in fantasy
- fantasizingImagining desired scenarios
- daydreamingIdle mental wandering
- absentmindedInattentive to immediate surroundings
- not all thereMentally deficient somehow
impractical · stargazing · unfocused · otherworldly · scatterbrained · fairy dust · abstracted · eccentric · distracted · lost in thought · head in the clouds · enchanted · out to lunch · spaced out · whimsical · fanciful · magical · ethereal
- inattentiondistracted, spacing, absent-minded, distraction, obliviousness
off with the fairiesdown-to-earth
Practical and without pretension
grounded · practical · realistic · level-headed · pragmatic
off with the fairiessharp
Fine-edged, or astute
sharp as a tack · clear-headed · lucid · quick-witted · on point