Webster's English Dictionary

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offset

Cross references:
  1. compensate            
 
1. off.set \-.set\ n archaic  1a: OUTSET, START  1b: CESSATION  2a: a short 
   prostrate lateral shoot arising from the base of a plant  2b: a lateral or 
   collateral branch (as of a family or race) : OFFSHOOT  2c: a spur from a 
   range of hills  3a: a horizontal ledge on the face of a wall formed by a 
   diminution of its  thickness above 3b: an abrupt change in the dimension or 
   profile of an object or the part s et off by such change 4: something that 
   sets off to advantage or embellishes something else : (MFOIL 5: an abrupt 
   bend in an object by which one part is turned aside out of lin e 6: 
   something that serves to counterbalance or to compensate for something e 
   lse; specif : either of two balancing ledger items 7a: unintentional 
   transfer of ink (as from a freshly printed sheet)  7b: a printing process 
   in which an inked impression from a planographic sur face is first made on 
   a rubber-blanketed cylinder and then transferred to the paper being printed 
   - offset aj
2. off.set \'o.f-.set, vt senses are also o.f-'\ vt 1a: to place over 
   against : BALANCE  1b: to compensate for : COUNTERBALANCE  2: to form an 
   offset in  : to become marked by offset