ˈset-off
Pl. set-offs (incorrectly sets-off).
[f. vbl. phr. set off: see set v.1 147.]
1. Something used to set off or adorn; an adornment, decoration, or ornament.
| 1621 Fletcher Wild Goose Chase iii. i, This course creature, That has no more set off, but his jugglings, His travell'd tricks. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ Ep. Ded. a 4 b, 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. Occas. i. (1881) 13 Nor is science..an ornament and set-off to devotion. |
2. The act of setting off on a journey, etc.; a start.
| 1759 Franklin Hist. Rev. Pennsylv. Wks. 1840 III. 425 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. 1806 Southey 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’ [Quiller-Couch] Delect. Duchy 52 Never do I mind such a gay set-off for the journey. |
3. Comm. 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. 5.
| 1766 Burrow Cases K.B. II. 820 There was a Plea of a Set-off. 1768 Blackstone Comm. 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. 1775 F. Buller Introd. Law Nisi Prius (ed. 2) 181 Defendant..gave a Notice of Set-off. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 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 Mill Pol. 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 Vict. 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 Goschen For. Exch. 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 Rogers Pol. Econ. iv. (1876) 39 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.
| 1773 Hist. Eur. in Ann. Reg. 106*/2 The idea of a set-off of services against offences was trivial. 1799 Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 263 Something is required from you as a set off against the sin of your retirement. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas iv. vii. (Rtldg.) 151 As a set-off against his hen⁓pecked cowardice..he gave me fifty ducats. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxiv, 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. |
4. a. Arch. (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. 7.
| 1717 Tabor in Phil. Trans. XXX. 554 There was a Set-off (as our Masons term it) in the inside of the Wall, eight Inches broad. 1721 Perry Daggenh. 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 Pract. Builder 427 The sets-off thus made..will also afford a secure support to the floors. 1842 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Sett-off. 1850 Parker Gloss. Archit. (ed. 5) s.v. Buttress, The set-offs dividing the stages [of Early English buttresses] are generally sloped at a very acute angle. 1867 A. Barry 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.
| 1830 Eng. & For. Mining Gloss., Cornw. (1860) 22 Set-off, the part of a connecting rod to which the bucket rod is attached. 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 821 The safe-edge file is principally required in making a set-off, or shoulder at any precise spot in the work. 1883 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. |
5. Printing, etc. The transference of ink from one page to another.
| 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 Southward Pract. Printing 436 In this way only can ‘set off’ be prevented. |
b. An impression transferred.
| 1839 Hansard Print. & 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 Ev. Man 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.
| 1896 Hipkins Pianoforte 33 A prolongation, forming the escapement lever k, controls the escapement or set-off from the strings by the screw and button h. |
7. attrib.: set-off button, a button to control the ‘set-off’ (sense 6) in a pianoforte; set-off paper, sheet Printing (see quots.).
| 1822 Savage Hints Decorative Printing 45 These Set off Sheets..prevent the ink setting off from one sheet to another while it is newly printed. 1839 Hansard Print. & Type-founding (1841) 111 The master should not grudge ample supplies of set-off paper. 1896 Hipkins Pianoforte 36 The set-off button. |