cream off

phr.v. to take a small part of a large amount of money for yourself, usually in a way that is not legal.

phr.v. to illicitly divert a percentage of profits or funds for personal use, typically before the total is officially recorded.

“The manager was caught creaming off a portion of the shop's daily cash sales.”

“Investigators discovered that the executive had been creaming off millions from the pension fund over several years through a series of shell companies.”

Informal

phr.v. to remove the top layer of cream from milk, or to use a cream to clean makeup off your face.

phr.v. to remove the fatty part of a liquid from the surface, or to use a cosmetic cream to dissolve and remove substances from the skin.

“She used a soft cloth to cream off her heavy stage makeup at the end of the night.”

“Traditional dairy farmers would cream off the top layer of the milk to make high-quality butter for the local market.”