set-offn.

Forms: Plural set-offs (incorrectly sets-off).

Etymology: < verbal phrase set off: see to set off at set v.¹ Phrasal verbs 2.Previous versions of the OED give the stress as: ˈset-off.

1. Something used to set off or adorn; an adornment, decoration, or ornament.

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the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > [noun] > ornamentation or decoration > an ornament > foil

foil1581

set-offa1625

offset1628

setting-offa1640

beauty spot1701

a1625 J. Fletcher Wild-goose Chase (1652) iii. i. 29 This course creature, That has no more set off, but his jugglings, His travell'd tricks.

1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ Ep. Ded. sig. a 4 ^v The plain dress of the Scriptures, without the paint and set-offs which are added to it by the severall contending parties of the Christian World.

1702 Eng. Theophrastus 347 A fine woman charms us without any other set-off than that of her beauty and youth.

1856 J. H. Newman Serm. Var. Occasions (1881) i. 13 Nor is science..an ornament and set-off to devotion.

2. The act of setting off on a journey, etc.; a start.

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society > travel > aspects of travel > departure, leaving, or going away > [noun] > setting out > instance of

sally1657

set-off1759

set-forth1829

take-off1928

off1968

1759 R. Jackson Hist. Rev. Pennsylvania 285 What the Governor's Set-off could not effect, was to be re-attempted by this Put off.

1798 Geraldina II. 189 This is but a dull set-off.

1803 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) I. 376 I suppose the new Magazine will start with the new year, in which case I must lend a helping hand for awhile, and give a hearty shove at the set-off.

1893 ‘Q’ Delectable Duchy 52 Never do I mind such a gay set-off for the journey.

a. Commerce and Law. An act of ‘setting off’ one item of account against another, i.e. of reckoning the former as a counterbalance to or a deduction from the latter; an item or amount which is or should be set off against another in the settlement of accounts; a counter-claim, or a counterbalancing debt, pleaded by the defendant in an action to recover money due; also, this mode of defence. Cf. offset n. 6a.

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society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > [noun] > specific processes

allowance1528

allocation1535

writing1732

liquidating1749

set-off1766

write-back1873

whack1885

clear-up1901

virement1902

accrual accounting1915

writedown1920

accruals accounting1963

cookie jar1975

1766 J. Burrow Rep. Court King's Bench 2 820 There was a Plea of a Set-off.

1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. xx. 304 The practice of what is called a set-off: whereby the defendant acknowleges the justice of the plaintiff's demand on the one hand; but, on the other, sets up a demand of his own, to counter~ballance that of the plaintiff, either in the whole or in part.

1772 F. Buller Introd. Law Nisi Prius (new ed.) 177 Defendant..gave a Notice of Set off.

1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scotl. 195 This plea, however, is not properly a bar to the action, but of the nature of a set-off or counter-claim, which extinguishes or modifies the pursuer's claim.

1844 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. III. xii. 6 If the cheque is paid into a different bank, it will not be presented for payment, but liquidated by set-off against other cheques.

1854 Act 17 & 18 Victoria c. 104 §191 If in any Proceeding..touching the Claim of a Master to Wages any Right of Set-off or Counter-claim is set up.

1861 G. J. Goschen Theory Foreign Exchanges 16 Otherwise, involving no immediate claim, they [American securities] cannot be regarded as a set-off to the debts which we incur to the Americans for cotton and corn.

1868 J. E. T. Rogers Man. Polit. Econ. iv. 38 The debts may be made to act as a set-off against each other.

b. In wider sense: A taking into account of something as a counterbalance to a partial compensation for something else; a counterbalancing or compensating circumstance or consideration.

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the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > [noun] > a counterbalance

counterpoise1594

opposition1594

counterbalance1640

offset1769

set-off1774

equipoise1780

makeweight1787

equilibrant1883

standoff1888

1774 Ann. Reg. 1773 106*/2 The idea of a set-off of services against offences was trivial.

1799 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 263 Something is required from you as a set off against the sin of your retirement.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. iv. vii. 169 As a set-off against his hen-pecked cowardice..he gave me fifty ducats.

1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xxiv. 246 Her own delight was no set-off to this.

1864 Reader 5 Nov. 567/3 We must take her evidence with great allowances and sets-off.

a. Architecture. (Also sett-off.) A reduction in the thickness of a wall, buttress, etc.; the sloping or flat projection or ledge formed when the portion above is reduced in thickness; = offset n. 4.

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society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > specific parts built or constructed > [noun] > wall > parts of

wall-sidec1540

jamb1687

coffer1715

set-off1717

ramp1795

wall-casing1858

setback1864

1717 J. Tabor in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 30 554 There was a Set-off (as our Masons term it) in the inside of the Wall, eight Inches broad.

1721 J. Perry Acct. Stopping Daggenham Breach 81 My Dam had hitherto from the Foundation been carry'd up by Set-offs on each Side, of about seven foot in breadth.

1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 427 The sets-off thus made..will also afford a secure support to the floors.

1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 1031 Sett-Off, the projecting part between the upper and lower portion of a wall.

1845 J. H. Parker Gloss. Terms Archit. (ed. 4) I. 75 The set offs dividing the stages [of Early English buttresses] are generally sloped at a very acute angle.

1867 A. Barry Life & Wks. Sir C. Barry vii. 254 Set-offs would have caused dislocation in the panelling.

b. A similar reduction or shoulder in a metal bar, etc.

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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > metal in specific state or form > [noun] > large bar of metal > reduction in thickness of

set-off1830

1830 Eng. & For. Mining Gloss., Cornwall (1860) 22 Set-off, the part of a connecting rod to which the bucket rod is attached.

1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. II. 821 The safe-edge file is principally required in making a set-off, or shoulder at any precise spot in the work.

1883 W. J. E. Crane Smithy & Forge 42 A set-off is a reduction from the original size of the bar with a square shoulder or two square shoulders.

a. Printing, etc. The transference of ink from one page to another.

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society > communication > printing > manner or style of printing > [noun] > transfer of wet ink to other page

set-off1842

offset1888

lithographic offset1915

society > communication > printing > printed matter > arrangement or appearance of printed matter > [noun] > transfer of wet ink to other page

set-off1842

offset1888

1842 Penny Mag. 24 Sept. 379 The rolling-press is found to be more efficacious than the hammer in producing less ‘set-off’, or transference of ink from one page to another.

1882 J. Southward Pract. Printing 436 In this way only can ‘set off’ be prevented.

b. An impression transferred.

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1839 T. C. Hansard Treat. Printing & Type-founding (1841) 138 Impressions in reverse, which, whilst the ink was yet fresh, were to be pressed strongly between clean paper, the set-off upon which would be fit for use.

1854 Every Man his own Printer 26 This will leave upon the stone what is termed a ‘set off’, or light transfer of the drawing.

6. In a pianoforte, the space left between the hammer at its full rise and the strings.

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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > stringed keyboards > [noun] > pianoforte > other parts, etc.

ogee front1815

sticker1822

fall1823

string-plate1827

piano leg1852

polychord1858

agraffe1860

mopstick1870

music rest1874

check-bara1877

hammer-action1885

escapement1896

set-off1896

set-off button1896

shift1896

shifting keyboard1896

1896 A. J. Hipkins Descr. & Hist. Pianoforte 33 A prolongation, forming the escapement lever k, controls the escapement or set-off from the strings by the screw and button h.

Compounds

attributive: set-off button n. a button to control the ‘set-off’ (sense 6) in a pianoforte. set-off paper n. (see quots.). set-off sheet n. Printing (see quots.).

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society > communication > printing > paper > [noun] > paper inserted to prevent smudging

set-off sheet1822

set-off paper1839

slip sheet1917