A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

send off for something • send out for something
send off for something —(also: send away for something )
request smth. by post: Have you sent off for the booklist yet?
send out for something —order smth. to be delivered to one’s
home, etc.: The workmen in the building sent out for some
sandwiches.
send someone about his business • send someone
on business
send someone about his business —dismiss a person uncere-
moniously: “Well, send him about his business when he bores
you, Edna,” instructed her husband as he prepared to leave.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase go about one’s business— attend to one’s own affairs:
She never reacted to his verbal abuses in our presence; she
went about her business, distant and proud.
send someone on business —send a person on a business mis-
sion: Once in a while, these companies would send me on
business to Singapore, where I would work at their Singapore
branch.
send someone away • send someone off
send someone away —
1
. make a person leave: I sent him away
because I was tired of his idle chatter. 2. dismiss smb. from
employment: News spread round that the teacher has been
sent away on account of immoral behavior.
send someone off —
1
. start smb. on a journey, etc.: Mother
always makes sure the children are sent off with a good break-
fast inside them. 2. bid a person farewell; say goodbye: The
whole family arrived on the quayside to send him off. 3. (Sport)
order a player to leave the field: Now don’t you try arguing
with the referee. You’ll only get sent off. 4. make a person fall
asleep: Did you know that if you count sheep, it is watching
the sheep jump that sends you off?