Meaning: Imminent; likely to happen soon.
Background:
This is one of the many phrases of nautical origin. It is quite simple to
understand once you know that `the offing' is the part of the sea that can be
seen from land, excluding those parts that are near the shore. Early texts
also refer to it as `offen' or `offin'.
Someone who was watching out for a ship to arrive would first see it
approaching when it was `in the offing' and expected to dock before the next
tide. Something that is `in the offing' isn't happening now or even in a
minute or two, but will inevitably happen before long. The phrase has
migrated from its naval origin into general use in the language and is now
used to describe any event that is imminent. `The offing', although more
usually used in the context of ships arriving, derives from the adjective
`off', which was used since at least the 14th century to mean `away from' -
as in `casting off', `setting off', `be off with you' etc.
All of the 18th century citations of `in the offing' refer to the offing as a
physical place. It wasn't until the mid 19th century, in America, that our
presently understood figurative meaning began to be used. An early example of
that comes in S. B. Beckett's Portland Reference Book and City Directory,
1850:
We have known wives to forget that they had husbands..., especially when
they supposed that a tax bill or a notification to do military duty was in
the offing.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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We are reminded each fire season that the next insurance premium rise is in the
offing.
