offset

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An agent, element, or thing that balances, counteracts, or compensates for something else.
• noun One thing set off or developed from something else.
• noun The start or initial stage; the outset.
• noun Architecture A ledge or recess in a wall formed by a reduction in thickness above; a setoff.
• noun Botany A shoot that develops laterally at the base of a plant, often rooting to form a new plant.
• noun Geology A spur of a mountain range or hills.
• noun A bend in a pipe, bar, or other straight continuous piece made to allow it to pass around an obstruction.
• noun A short distance measured perpendicularly from the main line in surveying, used to help in calculating the area of an irregular plot.
• noun A descendant of a race or family; an offshoot.
• noun An unintentional or faulty transfer of wet ink from a printed sheet to another surface in contact with it.
• noun Offset printing.
• intransitive verb To counterbalance, counteract, or compensate for.
• intransitive verb To cause (printed matter) to transfer or smear onto another surface.
• intransitive verb To produce by offset printing.
• intransitive verb To make or form an offset in (a wall, bar, or pipe).
• intransitive verb To develop, project, or be situated as an offset.
• intransitive verb Printing To become marked by or cause an unintentional transfer of ink.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To set off; balance; countervail; especially, to cancel by a contrary claim or sum: as, to offset one account against another.
• In mech., to bend so as to bring the axis out of line, but parallel to its original direction: said of a pipe, bar, rod, or shaft.
• To build with an offset: as, to offset the second story wall four inches.
• To transfer, by negligence (the moist or undried ink of a newly printed sheet upon the face of an overlying or facing sheet).
• noun In iron ship-building, an abrupt deviation to one side of the general line of a bar, as an angle-bar, designed to enable it to fit over a part projecting above the surface against which the bar is fitted.
• noun An offshoot; specifically, in botany, a short lateral shoot, either a stolon or a sucker, by which certain plants are propagated. The houseleek, Sempervivum tectorum, is propagated in this manner. See cut under bulb.
• noun A scion; a child; offspring.
• noun A spur or minor branch from a principal range of hills or mountains.
• noun In surveying, a perpendicular distance, measured from one of the main lines, as to points in the extremities of an inclosure, in order to take in an irregular section, and thus determine accurately the total area.
• noun In com., a sum, value, or account set off against another sum or account as an equivalent, countervail, or requital sum; hence, generally, any counterbalancing or countervailing thing or circumstance; a set-off.
• noun In architecture, a horizontal break in a wall or other member, marking a diminution of its thickness. See set-off.
• noun A terrace: as, grounds laid out in offsets.
• noun In a vehicle, a branch or fork of metal used to unite parts of the gear, as the backstay to the rear axle.
• noun In printing, a faulty transfer of superabundant or undried ink on a printed sheet to any opposed surface, as the opposite page. Also known as set-off.
• noun 10. A branch pipe; also, a more or less abrupt bend in a pipe, made to bring the axis of one part of the pipe out of line with the axis of another part.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To set off; to place over against; to balance.
• transitive verb To form an offset in, as in a wall, rod, pipe, etc.
• intransitive verb (Printing) To make an offset.
• noun In general, that which is set off, from, before, or against, something.
• noun (Bot.) A short prostrate shoot, which takes root and produces a tuft of leaves, etc. See Illust. of Houseleek.
• noun A sum, account, or value set off against another sum or account, as an equivalent; hence, anything which is given in exchange or retaliation; a set-off.
• noun A spur from a range of hills or mountains.
• noun (Arch.) A horizontal ledge on the face of a wall, formed by a diminution of its thickness, or by the weathering or upper surface of a part built out from it; -- called also set-off.
• noun (Surv.) A short distance measured at right angles from a line actually run to some point in an irregular boundary, or to some object.
• noun (Mech.) An abrupt bend in an object, as a rod, by which one part is turned aside out of line, but nearly parallel, with the rest; the part thus bent aside.
• noun (Print.) A more or less distinct transfer of a printed page or picture to the opposite page, when the pages are pressed together before the ink is dry or when it is poor; an unitended transfer of an image from one page to another; called also setoff.
• noun See offset printing.
• noun (Surv.) a rod, usually ten links long, used in measuring offsets.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Anything that acts as counterbalance; a compensating equivalent.
• noun international trade A form of countertrade arrangement, in which the seller agrees to purchase within a set time frame products of a certain value from the buying country. This kind of agreement may be used in large international public sector contracts such as arms sales.
• noun obsolete A time at which something begins; outset.