English

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Etymology

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An offering of flowers and candles at the foot of the Croix de l'Évangile (Cross of the Gospel), a wayside cross in Paris, France.

From offer +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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offering (plural offerings)

  1. gerund of offer
    1. The act by which something is offered.
    2. That which has been offered; a sacrifice.
    3. An oblation or presentation made as a religious act.
      • 1995, Glen Dudbridge, Religious Experience and Lay Society in T'ang China: a reading of Tai Fu's Kuang-i chi[1], Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 69–70:
        In many ways an ancient well-established situation is in Place: a dead military hero has reappeared as a ghost bringing trouble and even death to the officials who come to administer the Hsiang-chou prefecture at An-yang; they build a temple in his honour and make him regular offerings of bloody food; he then protects and supports the administrators who are responsible.
    4. A contribution given at a religious service.
    5. Something put forth, bid, proffered or tendered, such as for sale
      • 1996, Caryn Franklin, Franklin on fashion:
        In recent seasons fetishwear has found its way onto the catwalk, with vinyl, PVC and lycra featuring among the most unlikely designer offerings.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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offering

  1. present participle and gerund of offer
    • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:
      The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", [] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

Further reading

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