Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The part of the sea visible from shore that is very distant or beyond anchoring ground.
- idiom (in the offing) In the near or immediate future; soon to come.
- idiom (in the offing) Nearby; at hand.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun That part of the open visible sea that is remote from the shore, beyond the anchoring-ground, or beyond the mid-line between the shore and the horizon.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun That part of the sea at a good distance from the shore, or where there is deep water and no need of a pilot; also, distance from the shore
- noun visible but not nearby.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical The area of the
sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest theshore , and beyond theanchoring ground. - noun nautical The
distance that aship atsea keeps away fromland , often because ofnavigational dangers ,fog and otherhazards ; a position at a distance from shore. - noun figuratively The foreseeable future. Chiefly in the phrase
in the offing . - verb Present participle of
off .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the near or foreseeable future
- noun the part of the sea that can be seen from the shore and is beyond the anchoring area
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The story is based on an original idea imagined by Cody about a newly possessed cheerleader named Jennifer that turns into a killer who specializes in offing her male classmates.
First Poster for Jennifer's Body with Megan Fox « FirstShowing.net 2008
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The story, scripted by Oscar winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, is about a newly possessed cheerleader who turns into a killer that specializes in offing her male classmates.
Megan Fox Has Gone Nude in Jennifer's Body?! « FirstShowing.net 2008
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The complete lack of tension involved in offing two of the show’s most important characters was a big fat drag.
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Another in the offing is the Super Bowl indicator, which pred icts stock increases in the years when a team from the National Football League ' s National Football Conference wins the Super Bowl — as the NFC ' s New Orleans Saints did in February.
Market Rules, Made to Be Broken Jonathan Cheng 2010
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State of the Career: Volunteering is still the most fun I can have with my clothes on, and there are a couple of job applications in the offing, which is similarly taking up a lot of my limited attention span.
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(Still in the offing was the second, wider and more prolonged phase involving the forces of the five Arab nations that invaded Palestine in mid-May.)
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Remember Dukakis -- no, not Olympia, but Michael -- when he was asked whether he would support the idea of offing the killer of HIS WIFE, repeat, HIS WIFE!, he said no.
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If this team stays together, another deep tournament run could be in offing.
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Immediately in the offing was the walling off an area of veld used for recreation, but which was dangerous at night in its present state.
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_Zungeru_, rolling sluggishly at a single anchor, while steaming slowly in the offing was a light cruiser detailed to act as escort to the convoy, for more transports were under orders to rendezvous off Cape
Wilmshurst of the Frontier Force Ernest [Illustrator] Prater 1917
chained_bear commented on the word offing
"Offing, implies out at sea, or at a good distance from the shore, where there is deep water, and no need of a pilot to conduct the ship; thus, if a ship from shore be seen sailing out towards the sea, they say, 'She stands for the offing.' And if a ship having the shore near her, have another a good way without her, or towards the sea, they say, 'That ship is in the offing.'"
—Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 326
October 14, 2008
reesetee commented on the word offing
See also in the offing.
October 14, 2008
bilby commented on the word offing
Do you like offing?
January 9, 2016