offing

Meanings

Noun

• 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.
• 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.

Verb

• Present participle of off

Origin

• off + ing. Attested since the 1620s. Early texts also spell the term offin and offen.