- 1（in the offing）即將發生、就在眼前（多半整句一起用，很少單說 offing）
When something is in the offing, it is likely to happen soon. A change, a visit, a storm, a new job: if it is in the offing, it is not here yet, but it is close. You almost always need the little phrase in the offing; people do not usually say offing by itself in this meaning. The word started at sea. The offing was the stretch of water you could see from land, out toward the horizon. A ship in the offing was on its way in. From that picture we borrowed the idea of something coming, but not yet arrived. Though actually, it does not give you a clock: “soon” might be this afternoon or later this year, depending on the story. It sounds a little old and , more common in writing than in young people’s chat.
組成From off + -ing. Old sailors’ word for the sea you can see from shore, “off” the land. Later, in the offing came to mean anything that is coming in.
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
offingnoun/ˈɒfɪŋ/
- 1
nauticaltransportThe 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
- I came to an Anchor in seven fathomes water in the offing to Sea.
- 2
nauticaltransportThe 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.
- […] till I ſaw the Land tun out a great Length into the Sea, at about the Diſtance of four or five Leagues before me, and the Sea being very calm I kept a large, offing to make this Point; […]
- However, what with the help of this Ebb, and our Boats, we by Noon had got an Offing of 1 1/2 or 2 Miles, yet we could hardly flatter ourselves with hopes of getting Clear […]
- 3
The foreseeable future. Chiefly in the phrase in the offing.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。