better offadv.adj.n.
/ˌbɛtə(r) ˈɒf/, U.S. /ˌbɛdər ˈɔf/, /ˌbɛdər ˈɑf/ A. adv.
Used predicatively: in a more favourable or advantageous position; esp. better provided with money or other resources. Cf. well off adv.
ΚΠ
1648 Halesiados 8 When they play their Cards (as they must play) They'l grant we came far better off then they.]
1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 139 I would engage my Life to bring them to the Island of St. John..and did not fear but we should be much better off than their Consorts.
1741 ‘Jeremy Sharp’ Eng. Rogue i. 21 Nor would she have been better off had she called herself a Presbyterian, for the Plymotheans were rigid Independants.
1826 Republican 28 July 74 The generality of those who obtain employment are so miserably remunerated as to be but little better off than their idle brethren.
1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. xxxiv. 336 Doctor Johnson has been down the street many a time with ragged shoes... You literary gents are better off now.
1917 Times 27 Jan. 9/5 The man who takes a glass of tawny port and a biscuit at 11 a.m. is streets better off than the man who takes a whisky and soda and a cigarette.
1954 J. A. Pitt-Rivers People of Sierra xii. 180 José- Maria remarked that such a mule would be better off dead, and, drawing his pistol, he shot it.
1972 Vogue 1 Mar. 144/4 He's a Gemini... I'd be much better off with a Taurian.
2006 Sydney Morning Herald 3 June 28/1 According to one calculation this week, the former boss of the Commonwealth Bank..will be $10 million better off due to the Treasury's superannuation changes.
B. adj.
Usually in form better-off. In attributive use: more wealthy or well-to-do.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > wealth > [adjective] > well-off > more
better off1840
better-to-do1860
better-heeled1873
1840 Dublin Univ. Mag. July 61/2 Too happy if some better off acquaintance at the long table invites them to ‘wine’.
1865 J. S. Mill Auguste Comte 167 The better-off classes.
1934 D. C. Peel in G. M. Young Early Victorian Eng. I. 140 The poor benefited..by the charity of better-off folk.
1987 S. Eldred-Grigg Oracles Miracles iii. 53 Ginnie and I..would see the kids from the better off families saunter up to the rubbish tins.
2009 P. Glennie & N. Thrift Shaping Day viii. 308 Signature-literacy rates among eighteenth-century sailors were typical of the better-off working class.
C. n.
1. With the and plural agreement. People who are better off financially, considered as a class; = well off n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > wealth > [noun] > rich or wealthy person > well-off person or people
subsidy man1591
subsidy citizen1607
well-to-passer1654
well to pass1695
havea1739
have-something1755
best off1824
well off1828
well-to-do1829
better-to-do1860
kulak1877
better off1895
have-got1897
1895 Essex Rev. Apr. 108 Nothing is charged, but the better off are given the opportunity of contributing to expenses.
1910 F. L. Paxson Last Amer. Frontier vii. 112 The poor could work their way, driving cattle for the better-off.
1959 B. Wootton Social Sci. & Social Pathol. 366 The better-off, or those who still have better-off standards, can deal with the unmarried mother and the illegitimate child more easily.
2012 Independent 28 May 16/1 The educational apartheid system that..upholds the nepotistic advantages of the better off.
2. As a count noun: a person who is better off financially. Usually in plural.
ΚΠ
1914 Public Health (Michigan State Board of Health) Mar. 103 There has been a decline of production of babies in the homes of the better-offs in the United States within the past half century.
1940 F. Kitchen Brother to Ox i. 15 The ‘better offs’ sat in the chairs.
1994 F. Pacheco Ybor City Chron. xiii. 204 Fitch Shampoo was used by the better-offs, but regular folks washed their hair with the same soap they used to bathe in.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adv.adj.n.1726