Definition of away in US English:

away

adverb

1To or at a distance from a particular place, person, or thing.
‘she landed badly, and crawled away’
‘they walked away from the church in silence’
‘we'll be away for four nights’
‘Bernice pushed him away’
‘there's a river not far away’
- ‘It moves out of my reach, as if some unseen hand has pushed the cigarettes away from me.’
- ‘They will never see him again, for he plans to crawl away from the public eye and die.’
- ‘Residents from four neighbouring houses spent a night away from their homes as the house was sealed off.’
- ‘In response, the girl just cowered away from him, crawling backwards on her hands and knees.’
- ‘Local people were hoping for a change in the wind to push the slick away from the coast.’
- ‘He also saw three or four masked men scurry away from the bank under cover of the smoke.’
- ‘He was ordered not to communicate with Frost in any way and to stay away from four named people.’
- ‘She huffed and pushed her hair away from her face, which only made him want to kiss her.’
- ‘I tried to explain that I had a booking, but they kept pushing me away from the door.’
- ‘I picked at the vegetables, ate the potato, and then pushed the plate away from me.’
- ‘It was only then that the police stepped in, as they pushed the crowd away from the two lawyers.’
- ‘Afterwards it was Accies who had pushed up the table away from their hosts.’
- ‘I crawled away from the mess and moved toward the door at the back of the stage.’
- ‘The policeman refused to answer and instead pinned my arms behind my back and pushed me away from him.’
- ‘He tried to give her a kiss on the cheek but she resisted his advance and pushed him away from her face briskly.’
- ‘She crawled away from him so fast he was afraid she would go too far and fall off the bed.’
- ‘In the same way in a pub a ventilation system bringing in fresh air over the bar will push smoke away from staff.’
- ‘Several of the injured kids began to cry out in pain or crawl away from the gun shots.’
- ‘To his surprise the baby quickly struggled out and started crawling away from them.’
- ‘I rolled over on the air mattress and pushed us away from the edge of the pool.’
aside, off, to one side
elsewhere, abroad, not at home, not here, gone, absent
off, from here, from there
View synonyms
1. 1.1 At a specified distance.
  ‘when he was ten or twelve feet away he stopped’
  ‘we have had patients from as far away as Toronto’
  ‘a loud explosion a short distance away’
  ‘He stopped a foot away and bent into a bow to look down at her, smooth eyes twinkling.’
  ‘Once they were a good distance away from it they watched as the rest of the plane blew up.’
  ‘I said nothing until I reached her, stopping a few feet away, out of the reach of her hands.’
  ‘He could see Cale's light hair even in the dark, and was about a few feet away when he stopped, hearing a noise.’
  ‘I ended up in Dyce, which is a nice part of the town, granted, but it's about four miles away from my house.’
  ‘The offenders left in the waiting Honda, which was found abandoned a short distance away on Percival Walk.’
  ‘They made off in the postmaster's car, which was discovered a short distance away.’
  ‘It is true that both the building, its immediate surroundings, and the pond are some distance away from the road.’
  ‘St Andrews travellers can, and do, access the rail network at Leuchars, only a short distance away.’
  ‘I then looked to my right and saw that I was about ten feet away from a bus stop.’
  ‘The force of the impact led to the Astra ending up four metres away from where the collision happened.’
  ‘Many lived a great distance away from any village or town and so were unable to attend regular school.’
  ‘A woman sitting in the living room of a neighbouring house had a lucky escape when the lorry stopped just feet away from her.’
  ‘Princes Street, just a short distance away, had to endure only a few tens of thousand shoppers due to the bad weather!’
  ‘Some students move in and then realise the nearest bus stop is three miles away.’
  ‘Bus passengers prefer to wait under the hot sun, a good distance away from the waiting sheds.’
  ‘They managed to catch Power a short distance away and asked him what he had been doing.’
  ‘I saw the cardboard blow apart as the flash went off about ten feet away.’
  ‘He stopped a foot away, leaning against a lamp pole and sending out the aura of something set to kill.’
  ‘A little distance away from them was an elderly gentleman accompanied by his wife.’
2. 1.2 At a specified future distance in time.
  ‘the wedding is only weeks away’
  ‘Then there are areas with great potential for the future such as genetics but that potential is years away.’
  ‘Only from behind a desk hundreds of miles and four decades away from the action.’
  ‘By the time she reaches the plant, a two-hour drive away, she has fallen silent.’
  ‘They stay around for the free junkets and spend the associations' money when they are three to four days away from home.’
  ‘With a World Cup just months away, England are determined to finish this Six Nations' campaign on a high.’
  ‘It was a hard shoot because we were basically housed in a small village about four hours away from Shanghai.’
  ‘With the referendum over whether we want an elected mayor only a few weeks away, the debate continues.’
  ‘A future more than ten minutes away doesn't really exist for a three year old.’
  ‘The whole season though was only four minutes away from a most traumatic outcome possible.’
  ‘First blood went to Ripon in the month's relegation battle with the return fixture two weeks away.’
3. 1.3 Toward a lower level; downward.
  ‘in front of them the land fell away to the river’
  ‘She turned to look back and stepped in an empty space where the board had fallen away.’
  ‘All of these have fallen away like a plane flying along with the bits coming off it.’
  ‘Continue north from Froswick and the land falls steeply away on both sides of the ridge.’
  ‘The walls had fallen away but the wheel remained, a perfect prop for photography.’
  ‘Of course, since they were temporary they have long fallen away to expose the disintegrating molars below.’
  ‘After making a promising start to the season, they have fallen away badly.’
  ‘It is proposed to put kinetic fencing in place on the hillside to prevent anymore land sliding away.’
  ‘Southward the land drops away to a vast plain suitable for livestock and plantation farming.’
  ‘It was rotting, like the rest of the building, and parts of the wood had fallen away completely.’
  ‘They following year it went up to 4,633 but has fallen away gradually ever since.’
  ‘At the bottom, a tall rift dropped away from the far side of a small chamber and we dived into it at different levels to find the way on.’
  ‘My faith in my own country has fallen away drastically over the last ten years.’
  ‘We've had good starts for the past couple of years but fallen away after Christmas.’
  ‘Two or three years ago we might've fallen away, but this team has a bit of steeliness in it.’
4. 1.4 Conceptually to one side, so as no longer to be the focus of attention.
  ‘the museum has shifted its emphasis away from research toward exhibitions’
  ‘It seems like they are trying to draw attention away from the fact that the accompanying album is actually not very good.’
  ‘This drew attention away from the whole and focused it on the part, as all empiricist research tends to do.’
  ‘I doubt there is anything the others can do to wrest this focus away from her.’
  ‘And if it is done with enough pizzazz, it can divert attention away from their own failings at home.’
  ‘People need be entertained to take their attention away from conflict.’
  ‘It moved the focus away from tourists and sought to establish the firm as an international fragrance house.’
  ‘Criticising PETA is a red herring that people use to shift the focus away from themselves.’
  ‘He endures it for as long as he can before again turning his attention away from the road.’
  ‘It also draws attention away from the very considerable amounts of extra tax the Government is raising.’
  ‘Further, it has the potential to skew the focus of the inquiry away from what is really in issue.’
  ‘It is sometimes helpful to distract attention away from the treatment.’
  ‘Often, such diversions are to direct attention away from some other story or crisis.’
  ‘She said the tragedy of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers had diverted world focus away from both.’
  ‘I shift my focus away from me and my material to each of the students and what they need.’
  ‘We found problem gamblers were able to shift their intense focus away from the gambling task.’
  ‘The audacious stunts often end up diverting attention away from the group's cause.’
  ‘Tom was forcing me to shift focus away from the one person that I loved most and I loathed him for it.’
  ‘The detective can't be allowed to draw too much attention away from the core of the story.’
  ‘Third, most crucially, acts of terror divert the attention of the masses away from collective action.’
  ‘There is a danger that writers like these can draw attention away from more sophisticated and substantial work.’
  aside, off, to one side
  View synonyms
2Into an appropriate place for storage or safekeeping.
‘he put away the lawn furniture’
‘Philip locked away all the cash every night’
- ‘In the mean time, your car will be safely locked away at the Metro Police pound.’
- ‘Ray's collection could be worth £1m at auction and is so valuable most of it is locked away in a bank vault.’
- ‘Locked away inside, he can create up to 144 gallons of ale, three times a week.’
- ‘By her own choice, she's kept the money locked away and given herself an allowance.’
- ‘Then, finally, they had a copy in mint condition which they kept locked away.’
- ‘During its history the room was used for prayer, as secure storage to lock away treasures and as a Royal guest room.’
- ‘Having locked away the disks, the clerk gave the key back to Mr Collery and went home.’
- ‘And so they were locked away in a chest in a small room of Edinburgh Castle, and forgotten.’
- ‘As she begins to find herself, she learns to actually wear the cool shoes she has locked away.’
- ‘What ever excuse the school uses to lock away a child's inhaler is no excuse in my book.’
- ‘The upshot of this is that much of my stuff is locked away in the office till Monday.’
- ‘At present, no one can be sure how much of York's heritage is locked away for safe-keeping.’
- ‘With the last chapter of the seventh and final book already locked away in a secret location, she also knows his fate.’
- ‘Police have urged parents not to buy the guns for their children, or at the very least to keep them locked away.’
- ‘The owner of the fossil kept it locked away in a bank vault so no one has ever been able to verify it - until now.’
- ‘The start of the race was delayed in comic style with Oxford unable to get back into their team bus where their kit was locked away.’
- ‘Does this mean that there is a good twin, locked away in an attic somewhere?’
- ‘The horn is normally locked away under tight security at an undisclosed location in Ripon.’
- ‘There was no TV and my dad used to torment us by saying that there was one but that it was locked away.’
at a distance, apart, isolated
View synonyms
3Into nonexistence.
‘Marie felt her distress ebbing away’
‘the sound of hoofbeats died away’
- ‘With progress here, those behind the terrorist attacks would find their support draining away.’
- ‘As the Labour cheers died away, he opted for what he hoped would be a measured but lethal attack.’
- ‘Over the next 28 days that hope gradually ebbed away, until their worst fears were confirmed.’
- ‘None of the businesses qualified as charities of course, so the Minute Pools died away.’
- ‘And yet we let it rot away and die without ever tapping into the stories our elders have to tell.’
- ‘In Rabbit at Rest, it is the Pan Am plane over Lockerbie that is uppermost in Rabbit's mind as his life ebbs away.’
- ‘The train felt glum and groggy, as if the energy of Manhattan was draining away the further north we travelled.’
- ‘My confidence in my exam technique ebbed rapidly away when I did my Prelims.’
- ‘But the surprise in his eyes soon faded to sadness, and the sadness ebbed away to emptiness.’
- ‘Before the cheers have so much as died away the anthem starts up again.’
- ‘It has been sad to watch the three of them, once vital forces, ebb slowly away before our eyes.’
- ‘They both left, though, and the run of success ebbed away.’
- ‘Their best spell, at the end of the first half, ebbed away without a chance.’
- ‘Unfortunately, this creativity died away and left us with the band we know today.’
- ‘Then the laugh died away in her throat as they started kissing seriously.’
- ‘The breathtaking colour drains away, and you are left with something insipid at best.’
- ‘Of course, all those customs have died away and are not the custom in these days of fully and plenty for all.’
- ‘They were three points clear with time ebbing away when they began to panic and concede silly frees.’
- ‘Now, in a quiet moment beneath the stand as the noise and the chaos dies away, there is room for nothing but joy and relief.’
- ‘He runs out of air and ever so slowly gets suffocated and finally dies away.’
elsewhere, abroad, not at home, not here, gone, absent
View synonyms
4Constantly, persistently, or continuously.
‘there was little Edgar crooning away’
‘have your camera ready and click away when you spot something’
- ‘The London continued to struggle away, with only one win on their travels in the League this season.’
- ‘You read a cracking post, hover for a while but click away before commenting?’
- ‘He is constantly picking away at the scab of his own dissatisfaction.’
- ‘This isn't to say that philosophers won't continue to worry away at the problem.’
- ‘But he was much more than a mere snapshotter, clicking away to general annoyance.’
- ‘Within a few minutes I am clicking away to photographic fame and fortune on my Sony digicam.’
- ‘Then there's a scene where Chesty is interrupted by a mobster clicking away in his office.’
- ‘Like shrieking teenage girls, they gathered around her and clicked away on their mobile phone cameras.’
- ‘Thankfully, the support staff I use gave me the confidence to continue to work away.’
- ‘Oblivious to their visitor, they continued to jab away at their mother's underside.’
- ‘There are continuous attempts to chip away at abortion rights, especially in the US.’
- ‘The Tories will continue to hack away at the British state, handing more and more to the private sector.’
- ‘Why do we continue to toil away so very eagerly at creating our own unhappiness?’
- ‘Prawn trawlers were still continuing to plod away with most of the old problems still there.’
- ‘Most smokers know they will get lung cancer, but they continue puffing away.’
- ‘I envisioned holding still for several seconds while a camera shutter clicked away.’
- ‘Prawn boats still continue to plod away with very little change in prices or quality.’
- ‘What has made things worse is the euro signs clicking away in the eyes of anyone who is working on the Games.’
- ‘She's patting his head now, continuing to jabber away in her foreign language.’
- ‘Not nearly as many as have crooned away to it at the kitchen sink of a Sunday morn as one of Steve Wright's love songs, I bet.’

adjective

1(of a sports game) played at the opponents' field or court.
‘tomorrow night's away game at Yankee Stadium’
‘an away victory’
- ‘Aireborough recorded an excellent away victory over third placed Knaresborough on Saturday.’
- ‘Their fate may well hinge on rearranged home and away fixtures with Hull Road Park next week.’
- ‘As with all away match tickets they will be on sale to season ticket holders and members for a period of time and then go on general sale.’
- ‘Battling Belle Vue were denied the chance of their first away Elite League win of the season by a late Ipswich surge.’
- ‘Kendal County's away match at Ambleside was called off because of a waterlogged pitch.’
- ‘One of the aims of the Harrogate Minstermen is to offer regular and affordable travel to away fixtures.’
- ‘But there are no more fears on that score after City notched up their fourth away win in five.’
- ‘But when he was playing I used to go to all of his home games and the odd away match too.’
- ‘The point between has occurred because Terry has played one more away fixture than Tony.’
- ‘Draw specialists Barnsley are unbeaten in two months but City are chasing an eighth away win.’
- ‘Now it seems likely that the newcomers will be forced to complete their programme on away or neutral grounds.’
- ‘City are once again trying to bounce straight back from a home defeat by claiming their third away win in a row.’
- ‘But a seventh away win of the season at Vale Park will fire them back into the thick of it.’
- ‘We wanted to win the match and are disappointed to concede two away goals.’
- ‘The move follows a dramatic drop in football violence by Millwall fans at home and away matches.’
- ‘Also, United are unbeaten at home this season while Liverpool are still seeking a first away win.’
- ‘Look back over the last nine away wins and City have only once managed to follow up with a victory at Valley Parade.’
- ‘However, they have failed to win a single away game this season so far.’
- ‘After all, it's not every week that I can celebrate an excellent Tranmere away win!’
- ‘Since Christmas they have lost all three of their home league games, but won four and drawn one of their away matches.’
1. 1.1 Relating to or denoting a sports team that is playing at the opponents' field or court.
  ‘the away team left with a win in the shootout’
  ‘The next time you attend a high-profile match as an away supporter, be sure to carry proof of your identity.’
  ‘My dad stopped going in the '80s because scary away fans brought hooligans.’
  ‘Tickets for away fans are at the lower end of the price range.’
  ‘Football clubs around the world segregate away supporters in small sections of the stadium away from home supporters.’
  ‘Just like how the game went in Buffalo, the away team left yesterday's Winter Classic with a win in the shootout.’
  ‘Things went from bad to worse as Cristiano Ronaldo bagged two more goals for the away side.’
  ‘United haven't looked that special - they rarely did last season despite being crowned champions - but they are far more assured than the away side.’
  ‘There was a lot of positives for the away side aside from the win with the obvious one being Hazard's individual brilliance.’
  ‘NSW's strong start spells real danger for WA, as no away team has won the Shield final since 2004-05.’
  ‘Although the away side started brightly, West Ham recorded the first big opportunity on goal.’
  ‘A large crowd, including 5,000 away fans, are expected at the game in what is sure to be an entertaining clash between two attacking teams needing the points.’

noun

A game played or won by a team at their opponents' field or court.
- ‘Oviedo haven't been able to find the net in 10 away visits and may soon be vying for the record run of scoreless aways in Spain, currently standing at 12 matches.’
- ‘It certainly will prove a stark contrast to recent league aways the Hatters have enjoyed at the likes of Molineux, Maine Road and Hillsborough.’
- ‘The two homes, Dundee United and Aberdeen, are difficult enough, and the three aways are Dundee, Rangers and a resurgent Motherwell.’
- ‘This year there's three big aways - Rome, Dublin, and Cardiff.’