offish, a. colloq.
(ˈɒfɪʃ, ɔː-)
[f. off adv. + -ish1: cf. uppish.]
Inclined to keep aloof; distant in manner. Cf. stand-offish. Hence ˈoffishness.
| 1834 C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing 75 Others are a little offish. 1842 Betsy Bobbet 289 (Farmer), I am naturally pretty offish and retirin' in my ways with strange men folks. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Americanisms, Offish, distant or unapproachable in manners. 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd lii, She is..quite offish and careless, I know. 1882 Standard 29 Sept. 5/2 With..all our ‘offishness’..we and our cousins in the Far South get along amazingly well. 1899 F. Greenwood in Blackw. Mag. June 1039/2 The robust self-dependence, selfishness, offishness of wild life. a 1963 S. Plath Crossing Water (1971) 31 She stopped fitting me so closely and seemed offish. |