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  1. offal love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Waste parts, especially of a butchered animal.
  2. n. Refuse; rubbish.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. That which falls off, as a chip or chips in dressing wood or stone; that which is suffered to fall off as of little value or use.
  2. n. Especially Waste meat; the parts of a butchered animal which are rejected as unfit for use.
  3. n. Refuse of any kind; rubbish.
  4. n. In the fisheries: Small fish of various kinds taken in seines among larger or more valuable kinds, and thrown away or used for manure, etc.
  5. n. Low-priced and inferior fish: distinguished from prime. Fish caught with the trawl average one fourth prime and three fourths offal.
  6. Waste; refuse: as, offal wood.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The rejected or waste parts of a butchered animal.
  2. n. The internal organs of an animal other than a bird, these organs being used as food.
  3. n. A dead body.
  4. n. Carrion.
  5. n. That which is thrown away as worthless or unfit for use; refuse; rubbish.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The rejected or waste parts of any process, especially the inedible parts of a butchered animal, such as the viscera.
  2. n. A dead body; carrion.
  3. n. That which is thrown away as worthless or unfit for use; refuse; rubbish.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal often considered inedible by humans

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English offal ("offal, refuse, scrap waste"), possibly from Old Norse affall ("offal"), or from Middle English of- +‎ fal(l), equivalent to off- +‎ fall. Cognate with Danish affald ("waste, refuse"), Swedish avfall ("waste, refuse"), Dutch afval ("waste, refuse"), German Abfall ("waste, refuse"), Old English offeallan ("to cut off"). More at off, fall. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English : of-, off (from Old English, from of; see apo- in Indo-European roots) + fal, fall. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The term offal which, unfortunately, sounds like "awful" comes from "off fall" - the parts that fell off the butcher's table, or an animal's organs, entrails and extremities.”

    News

  • “The term "offal" which, unfortunately, sounds like "awful" comes from "off fall" - the parts that fell off the butcher's table, or an animal's organs, entrails and extremities.”

    News

  • “Kristen, the Japanese for vegetarian used here was 菜食主義, saishokushugi, which I think carried a definite “vegetables only”, although I have noticed when I use the katakana vegetarian it usually gets understood as “no identifiable meat chunks”, so even offal is OK!”

    Buddhist priests favourite grilled beef

  • “In some areas, offal is increasing kelp gull populations with a corresponding increase in the level of predation on penguin eggs and chicks, thereby lowering reproductive success.”

    Península Valdés, Argentina

  • “It was better than it sounds, though probably an acquired taste for those with the "oh my god, offal is awful" mindset.”

    Longaniza, Verde o Roja

  • “It seems only polite to the animal you've killed," says Fergus Henderson, the legendary London chef widely credited with rescuing offal from the culinary gutbucket, and the author of The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating (Ecco Press), a cult-classic cookbook that just recently became available in the United States.”

    How to Cook Your Gut Pile

  • “They exist on the offal from the village abattoir.”

    Janey Canuck in the West

  • “And when they are dead and dust, which will be shortly, other fools will talk bloody revolution as they gather offal from the spittle-drenched sidewalk along Mile End Road to Poplar Workhouse.”

    The Carter and the Carpenter

  • “Doomed to be unfairly overlooked by pundits beholden to bigger-label offal, this cover set of country and Americana tunes that have influenced Rodriguez has a tastiness and sweetness that's rare for a Sheryl Crow chaser.”

    Glide Magazine - Music :: Culture :: Life

  • “The word offal-or variety meats-actually comes from the simple but direct description”

    Offal Good

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘offal’.

Comments

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  • bilby Well said, logie! Aug 19, 2008

  • super-logos Truly awful. Aug 18, 2008

  • bilby "Stark reached out, not physically, but with his mind, and seized that disappearing tail of Thad's mental probe. In the eye of Stark's own mind it looked like a worm, a fat white maggot deliriously stuffed with offal and decay."
    - 'The Dark Half', Stephen King. Dec 31, 2007

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‘offal’ has been looked up 4859 times, loved by 5 people, added to 58 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 11.