Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. 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: with exams finished and graduation in the offing.
- idiom. in the offing Nearby; at hand.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. 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.
Wiktionary
- n. The area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground.
- n. The distance that a ship at sea keeps away from land, often because of navigational dangers, fog and other hazards; a position at a distance from shore.
- n. The foreseeable future. Chiefly in the phrase in the offing.
- v. present participle of off.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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
WordNet 3.0
- n. the near or foreseeable future
- n. the part of the sea that can be seen from the shore and is beyond the anchoring area
Examples
“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
“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
“The complete lack of tension involved in offing two of the show’s most important characters was a big fat drag.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“If this team stays together, another deep tournament run could be in offing.”
“(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.)”
The Wall Street Journal: 1948, Israel and the Palestinians: The True Story
“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.”
“_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”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘offing’.
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Mobying Along
looks like there's not an open Moby Dick list. So now there is.
hypos, Manhattoes, circumambulate, mole, grapnels, bowsprit, asphaltic, mazy, tranced, cataract, ungraspable, judgmatically and 227 more...
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Moby Dick
Words of interest from the book Moby Dick.
arrant, obstreperously, coffer-dam, farrago, rejoinder, counterpane, hamper, commend, grego, dreadnought, psalmody, expostulation and 85 more...
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wachasbowers's list
jejeune, morocco, offing, porcine, temerity, toque, maxixe, brummagem
reesetee See also in the offing. Oct 14, 2008
chained_bear "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 Oct 14, 2008