Wiktionary

offer

See also: Offer

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

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  • offre (obsolete)
  • offa (pronunciation spelling)

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English offer, from Old English offrian (“offer or make a sacrifice”) rather than from Old French offre (“offer”), from offrir (“to offer”), from Latin offerō (“to present, bring before”). Compare North Frisian offer (“sacrifice, donation, fee”), Dutch offer (“offering, sacrifice”), German Opfer (“victim, sacrifice”), Danish offer (“victim, sacrifice”), Icelandic offr (“offering”). See verb below.

Noun

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offer (plural offers)

  1. A proposal that has been made.
    What's in his offer?
    I decline your offer to contract.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.
  2. Something put forth, bid, proffered or tendered.
    His offer was $3.50 per share.
  3. (law) An invitation to enter into a binding contract communicated to another party which contains terms sufficiently definite to create an enforceable contract if the other party accepts the invitation.
    His first letter was not a real offer, but an attempt to determine interest.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Tokelauan: ofo
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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From Middle English offren, offrien. In the religious senses inherited from Old English offrian (“to offer, sacrifice, bring an oblation”); otherwise from Old French ofrir. Both ultimately from Latin offerō (“to present, bestow, bring before”, literally “to bring to”), from Latin ob + ferō (“bring, carry”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”), later reinforced by Old French offrir (“to offer”). Cognate with Old Frisian offria (“to offer”), Old Dutch offrōn (“to offer”), German opfern (“to offer”), Old Norse offra (“to offer”). More at ob-, bear.

Verb

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offer (third-person singular simple present offers, present participle offering, simple past and past participle offered)

  1. (intransitive) To propose or express one's willingness (to do something).
    She offered to help with her homework.
  2. (transitive) To present in words; to proffer; to make a proposal of; to suggest.
    Everybody offered an opinion.
  3. (transitive) To place at someone’s disposal; to present (something) to be either accepted or turned down.
    He offered use of his car for the week.  He offered his good will for the Councilman's vote.
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
    • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
      Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.
    1. (transitive) To present (something) for sale.
  4. (transitive) To present (something) to God or gods as a gesture of worship, or for a sacrifice.
  5. (transitive, of a thing) To present (something) to the sight etc.; to provide for use, consideration etc.
    Synonyms: offer up, showcase
    The city offers beautiful architecture.
  6. (transitive, engineering) To place (something) in a position where it can be added to an existing mechanical assembly.
    • 2009, Roger Williams, Triumph Tr2, 3, 3a, 4 & 4a:
      The next stage is to remove and replace the top part of the right side lip, and offer the lid to the car to ensure all the shapes and gaps are okay.
  7. (transitive) To bid, as a price, reward, or wages.
    I offered twenty dollars for it. The company is offering a salary of £30,000 a year.
  8. (intransitive) To happen, to present itself.
    • 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
      The occasion offers, and the youth complies.
    • 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 72:
      The opportunity however did not offer till next morning, for Phœbe did not come to bed till long after I was gone to ſleep:
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 7:
      Much was I disappointed upon learning that the little packet for Nantucket had already sailed, and that no way of reaching that place would offer, till the following Monday.
  9. (obsolete) To make an attempt; typically used with at.
  10. (transitive) To put in opposition to; to manifest in an offensive or defensive way; to threaten.
    • 1979 December 15, “Two Assaulted in Bay Village in Separate Incidents”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 21, page 3:
      A car turned the corner and stopped, and three or four people emerged and approached her, grabbing her purse. When she offered resistance, one of the assailants took out a knife and stabbed her in the lower abdomen and legs.
    to offer violence to somebody
    The peasants offered no resistance as they were rounded up.
Usage notes
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Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 3

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From off +‎ -er.

Noun

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offer (plural offers)

  1. (used in combinations from phrasal verbs) agent noun of off
    • 2003, James-Jason Gantt, Losing Summer‎[1], →ISBN, page 146:
      Once you finally discover yourself a dismember-er, a de-limber, a fucking head-cutter-offer, the most simple of tasks — enjoying a long walk outside, seeing a movie, conversing with a stranger in the library — all become prized and over-inflated moments of elation.
Derived terms
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Anagrams

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Danish

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Noun

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offer n (singular definite ofret or offeret, plural indefinite ofre)

  1. sacrifice
  2. victim

Inflection

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Declension of offer
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative offer ofret
offeret 		ofre ofrene
genitive offers ofrets
offerets 		ofres ofrenes

Derived terms

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle Dutch offere, from Old Dutch [Term?].

Noun

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offer n (plural offers, diminutive offertje n)

  1. sacrifice
  2. victim
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • Negerhollands: offer
  • → Papiamentu: offer (dated)

Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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offer

  1. inflection of offeren:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

Latin

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Verb

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offer

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of offerō

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From Old Norse offr.

Noun

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offer n (definite singular offeret, indefinite plural offer or ofre, definite plural ofra or ofrene)

  1. a sacrifice
  2. a victim, a casualty

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Old Norse offr.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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offer n (definite singular offeret, indefinite plural offer, definite plural offera)

  1. a sacrifice
  2. a victim, a casualty
    Offera var alle drepne på same måten.
    The victims were all killed in the same manner.

Derived terms

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References

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Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv
 
ett offer (sense 1) (Midvinterblot by Carl Larsson)

Etymology

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From Old Norse offr.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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offer n

  2. a sacrifice
  3. a victim
    ett offer för omständigheterna
    a victim of circumstance[s]

Usage notes

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A sacrifice in the sense of giving something up for some purpose, like a personal sacrifice, is more commonly an uppoffring.

Declension

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Declension of offer
nominative genitive
singular indefinite offer offers
definite offret offrets
plural indefinite offer offers
definite offren offrens

Derived terms

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sacrifice
victim

See also

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References

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Anagrams

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Welsh

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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offer f (plural offerau or offeriau or offrau)

  1. equipment

Derived terms

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Mutation

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Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal h-prothesis
offer unchanged unchanged hoffer
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

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  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “offer”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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