offing

  1. Noun.  (nautical) 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.
  2. Noun.  (nautical) 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.
  3. Noun.  (figuratively) The foreseeable future. ''Chiefly in the phrase'' '''in the offing'''.
  4. Verb.  (present participle of, off) .

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.