offing

Pluraloffings

1. 1
   nounfiguratively

   The foreseeable future, especially with reference to something that is approaching or likely to happen before long.

   Like a ship still far out at sea but clearly heading toward the harbor.

   After months of rumors, a merger now appeared to be in the offing.

   She could sense that a promotion was in the offing.

   Note

   The metaphor is the view from shore. Something in the offing can already be seen but has not yet arrived, like a ship beyond the anchorage. The sense lives almost entirely in the phrase in the offing, usually after be, appear or seem. It suits things expected fairly soon, such as a merger or a promotion, rather than the remote future.

2. 2
   noun

   The stretch of sea visible from land at a distance, excluding the waters nearest the shore and lying beyond the anchoring ground.

   Like the middle distance in a landscape painting: past the foreground, but short of the horizon.

   The lookout reported a frigate standing in the offing, well clear of the shoals.

   By dawn, three merchant vessels rode at anchor in the offing, awaiting the tide.

   Note

   A sailor's word built plainly from off and -ing, in use since before 1600 and spelled offin or offen in early texts. It names a place, so ships are seen, reported or caught by storms in the offing. Defoe's Crusoe is shipwrecked there in 1719, and in Melville's Moby-Dick (1851) a returning whaler is "reported in the offing." The figurative "coming soon" phrase borrows this literal one whole.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The distance a ship at sea keeps from land, often because of navigational dangers, fog, or other hazards; also a position held well out from shore.

   Like keeping a cushion of empty road between your car and a cliffside guardrail.

   Wary of the reef, the helmsman maintained a generous offing throughout the night.

   The sailing manual advised keeping a safe offing whenever the shoreline grew rocky.

   Note

   Here offing is an amount rather than a place. A ship keeps, gets or gains it, and it can be measured: James Cook's journal records getting "an Offing of 1 1/2 or 2 Miles." Marryat's The Privateersman (1846) treats it as a quantity, saying they "had not gained much offing." Unlike the visible stretch of sea, it takes a or much rather than in the.

4. 4
   verb

   Present participle of off.

   The gang spent the whole season offing anyone who crossed them.

   Offing a rival boss triggered an all-out turf war.

   Note

   Same spelling as the nautical noun, but here offing is simply the -ing form of the verb off. The verb is transitive, so it needs an object. In slang, offing someone means killing them. In Nigeria, the Philippines and Singapore, offing something means switching it off. Only context tells these apart from the seafaring noun.

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