Officer noun [ French officier . See Office , and confer Official , noun ]
1. One who holds an office; a person lawfully invested with an office, whether civil, military, or ecclesiastical; as, a church officer ; a police officer ; a staff officer . "I am an officer of state." Shak.

2. (U. S. Mil.) Specifically, a commissioned officer, in distinction from a warrant officer.

Field officer , General officer , etc. See under Field , General . etc. -- Officer of the day (Mil.) , the officer who, on a given day, has charge for that day of the quard, prisoners, and police of the post or camp. -- Officer of the deck , or Officer of the watch (Nautical) , the officer temporarily in charge on the deck of a vessel, esp. a war vessel.

Officer transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Officered ; present participle & verbal noun Officering .]
1. To furnish with officers; to appoint officers over. Marshall.

2. To command as an officer; as, veterans from old regiments officered the recruits.

Official adjective [ Latin officialis : confer French officiel . See Office , and confer Official , noun ]
1. Of or pertaining to an office or public trust; as, official duties, or routine.

That, in the official marks invested, you
Anon do meet the senate.

Shak.

2. Derived from the proper office or officer, or from the proper authority; made or communicated by virtue of authority; as, an official statement or report.

3. (Pharm.) Approved by authority; sanctioned by the pharmacopœia; appointed to be used in medicine; as, an official drug or preparation. Confer Officinal .

4. Discharging an office or function. [ Obsolete]

The stomach and other parts official unto nutrition.

Sir T. Browne.

Official noun [ Latin officialis a magistrate's servant or attendant: confer French official . See Official , adjective , and confer Officer .]
1. One who holds an office; esp., a subordinate executive officer or attendant.

2. An ecclesiastical judge appointed by a bishop, chapter, archdeacon, etc., with charge of the spiritual jurisdiction. Blackstone.

Officialism noun The state of being official; a system of official government; also, adherence to office routine; red-tapism.

Officialism may often drift into blunders.

Smiles.

Officiality (ŏf*fĭsh`ĭ*ăl"ĭ*tȳ) noun See Officialty .

Officially adverb By the proper officer; by virtue of the proper authority; in pursuance of the special powers vested in an officer or office; as, accounts or reports officially verified or rendered; letters officially communicated; persons officially notified.

Officialty noun [ Confer F. officialité .] The charge, office, court, or jurisdiction of an official. Ayliffe.

Officiant noun [ Latin officians , present participle See Officiate .] (Eccl.) The officer who officiates or performs an office, as the burial office. Shipley.

Officiary adjective Of or pertaining to an office or an officer; official. [ R.] Heylin.

Officiate intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Officiated ; present participle & verbal noun Officiating .] [ Late Latin officiare . See Office .] To act as an officer in performing a duty; to transact the business of an office or public trust; to conduct a public service. Bp. Stillingfleet.

Officiate transitive verb To discharge, perform, or supply, as an official duty or function. [ Obsolete]

Merely to officiate light
Round this opacous earth.

Milton.

Officiator noun One who officiates. Tylor.

Officinal adjective [ French, from Latin officina a workshop, contr.fr. opificina , from opifex a workman; opus work + facere to make or do.]
1. Used in a shop, or belonging to it. [ Obsolete or R.] Johnson.

2. (Pharm.) Kept in stock by apothecaries; -- said of such drugs and medicines as may be obtained without special preparation or compounding; not magistral.

» This term is often interchanged with official , but in strict use officinal drugs are not necessarily official . See Official , adjective , 3.

Officious adjective [ Latin officiosus : confer French officieux . See Office .]
1. Pertaining to, or being in accordance with, duty. [ R.]

If there were any lie in the case, it could be no more than as officious and venial one.

Note on Gen. xxvii. (Douay version).

2. Disposed to serve; kind; obliging. [ Archaic]

Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries
Officious .

Milton.

They were tolerably well bred, very officious , humane, and hospitable.

Burke.

3. Importunately interposing services; intermeddling in affairs in which one has no concern; meddlesome.

You are too officious
In her behalf that scorns your services.

Shak.

Syn. -- Impertinent; meddling. See Impertinent .

-- Of*fi"cious*ly , adverb -- Of*fi"cious*ness , noun

Offing noun [ From Off .] That part of the sea at a good distance from the shore, or where there is deep water and no need of a pilot; also, distance from the shore; as, the ship had ten miles offing ; we saw a ship in the offing .

Offish adjective Shy or distant in manner. [ Colloq. U.S.]

Offlet noun [ Off + let .] A pipe to let off water.

Offprint transitive verb [ Off + print .] To reprint (as an excerpt); as, the articles of some magazines are offprinted from other magazines.

Offprint noun A reprint or excerpt.

Offscouring noun [ Off + scour .] That which is scoured off; hence, refuse; rejected matter; that which is vile or despised. Lam. iii. 45.

Offscum noun [ Off + scum .] Removed scum; refuse; dross.

Offset noun [ Off + set . Confer Set-off .] In general, that which is set off, from, before, or against, something ; as: --

1. (Botany) A short prostrate shoot, which takes root and produces a tuft of leaves, etc. See Illust. of Houseleek .

2. 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.

3. A spur from a range of hills or mountains.

4. (Architecture) 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 .

5. (Surv.) A short distance measured at right angles from a line actually run to some point in an irregular boundary, or to some object.

6. (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.

7. (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.

Offset staff (Surv.) , a rod, usually ten links long, used in measuring offsets.

Offset transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Offset ; present participle & verbal noun Offsetting .]
1. To set off; to place over against; to balance; as, to offset one account or charge against another.

2. To form an offset in, as in a wall, rod, pipe, etc.

Offset intransitive verb (Printing) To make an offset.

Offshoot noun [ Off + shoot .] That which shoots off or separates from a main stem, channel, family, race, etc.; as, the offshoots of a tree.

Offshore adjective From the shore; as, an offshore wind; an offshore signal.

Offskip noun [ Off + - skip , as in landskip .] (Paint.) That part of a landscape which recedes from the spectator into distance. [ R.] Fairholt.

Offspring noun sing. & plural [ Off + spring .]

1. The act of production; generation. [ Obsolete]

2. That which is produced; a child or children; a descendant or descendants, however remote from the stock.

To the gods alone
Our future offspring and our wives are known.

Dryden.

3. Origin; lineage; family. [ Obsolete] Fairfax.

Offtake noun [ Off + take .]
1. Act of taking off; specif., the taking off or purchase of goods.

2. Something taken off; a deduction.

3. A channel for taking away air or water; also, the point of beginning of such a channel; a take-off.

Offuscate, Offuscation See Obfuscate , Obfuscation . [ Obsolete]

Oft (ŏft; 115) adverb [ Anglo-Saxon oft ; akin to Old Saxon & German oft , Old High German ofto , Swedish ofta , Danish ofte , Icelandic opt , Goth. ufta ; of uncertain origin. Confer Often .] Often; frequently; not rarely; many times. [ Poetic] Chaucer.

Oft she rejects, but never once offends.

Pope.

Oft adjective Frequent; often; repeated. [ Poetic]

Often adverb [ Compar. Oftener ; superl. Oftenest .] [ Formerly also ofte , from oft . See Oft ., adverb ] Frequently; many times; not seldom.

Often adjective Frequent; common; repeated. [ R.] "Thine often infirmities." 1 Tim. v. 23.

And weary thee with often welcomes.

Beau. & Fl.

Oftenness noun Frequency. Hooker.

Oftensith adverb [ Often + sith time.] Frequently; often. [ Obsolete]

For whom I sighed have so oftensith .

Gascoigne.

Oftentide adverb [ Often + tide time.] Frequently; often. [ Obsolete] Robert of Brunne.

Oftentimes adverb [ Often + time. Confer -wards .] Frequently; often; many times. Wordsworth.

Ofter adverb Compar. of Oft . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Ofttimes adverb [ Oft + time. Confer -wards .] Frequently; often. Milton.

Ogam noun Same as Ogham .

Ogdoad noun [ Gr . ... , ... , from ... eight.] A thing made up of eight parts. Milman.

Ogdoastich noun [ Greek ... the eighth + ... a verse.] A poem of eight lines. [ Obsolete] Selden

Ogee noun [ French ogive , augive , Late Latin augiva , of uncertain origin; confer Late Latin ogis a support, prop. Latin augere to increase, strengthen, Spanish auge highest point of power or fortune, apogee, Arabic auj , an astronomical term.]

1. (Architecture) A molding, the section of which is the form of the letter S, with the convex part above; cyma reversa. See Illust. under Cyma .

2. Hence, any similar figure used for any purpose.

Ogee arch (Architecture) , a pointed arch, each of the sides of which has the curve of an ogee, that is, has a reversed curve near the apex.

Ogeechee lime [ So named from the Ogeechee River in Georgia.] (Botany) (a) The acid, olive-shaped, drupaceous fruit of a species of tupelo ( Nyssa capitata ) which grows in swamps in Georgia and Florida. (b) The tree which bears this fruit.

Ogganition noun [ Latin oggannire to snarl at; ob (see Ob- ) + gannire to yelp.] Snarling; grumbling. [ R.] Bp. Montagu.

Ogham noun [ Ir.] A particular kind of writing practiced by the ancient Irish, and found in inscriptions on stones, metals, etc. [ Written also ogam .]

Ogive noun [ French ogive , Old French augive a pointed arch, Late Latin augiva a double arch of two at right angles.] (Architecture) The arch or rib which crosses a Gothic vault diagonally.