offing.
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.
Meaning & usage
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.
to see (a ship) in the offing
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.
The foreseeable future. Chiefly in the phrase in the offing.
Where this word comes from
From off + -ing. Attested since before 1600. Early texts also spell the term offin and offen.
present participle and gerund of off
Where this word comes from
From off + -ing. Attested since before 1600. Early texts also spell the term offin and offen.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.