in the offing
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Prepositional phrase[edit]
- (literally, of a ship, landmass, etc.) Within the area of the sea known as the offing; at a considerable distance from land, but visible from shore, often in reference to an approaching ship.
- They could see that the ship was waiting in the offing.
- There were several small islands in the offing.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 15:
- Presently a rioting noise was heard without. Starting up, the landlord cried, "That's the Grampus's crew. I seed her reported in the offing this morning; a three years' voyage, and a full ship. Hurrah, boys; now we'll have the latest news from the Feegees."
- 1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 252:
- If the ship that bore the sacred flame arrived too soon, it might not put in to shore, but had to cruise in the offing till the nine days were expired.
- (figurative) Soon to come; likely to happen; in the foreseeable future; projected to occur; on the horizon; in the wind.
- Synonyms: imminent; see also Thesaurus:impending
- 1850, Sylvester Breakmore Beckett, The Portland Reference Book and City Directory[1]:
- We have known wives to forget that they had husbands, […] especially when they supposed that a tax bill or a notification to do military duty might be in the offing!
- 1917 May, Florence Van Leer Earle Coates, “In the Offing”, in The Minaret:
- The Ship of the Spring in the offing at last! / Oh, rude blew the hindering gales, / But perfumes entrancing, the danger o'erpast, / Are wafted afar, from her sails!
- 2014 August 8, Rupert Christiansen, “The truth about falsettos”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)[2]:
- He [countertenor Anthony Roth Constanzo] also enjoys being the catalyst whereby opera fertilises other art forms: recently, he's collaborated with Japanese kabuki actors, and a project with dancers from New York City Ballet is in the offing.
- (idiomatic) At a distance, but visible.
- 1919, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Leave it to Jeeves”, in My Man Jeeves[4], London: George Newnes:
- The moment I saw the man standing there, registering respectful attention, a weight seemed to roll off my mind. I felt like a lost child who spots his father in the offing. There was something about him that gave me confidence.
Translations[edit]
in the foreseeable future; on the horizon
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