Meanings
present singular third person offlays · participle present offlaying · participle past offlaid · past offlaid
- raretransitiveTo offset.
The subcontractors themselves outsource work to others in a 'chain of subcontractors' in order further to offlay risks.
1993, Professor Scott M Lash, Professor John Urry, Economies of Signs and Space - Page 1782 more examples
That seemed to offlay the sense of "the bastards who did this". Quite often there seemed to me to be a sense of failure to protect one's own from the bastards.
2000, Dorothy Rowe, Friends and enemies - Page 171[…] that you are going to control people's lives to the extent that they are able and willing to incur carbon cost which they will then have to offlay.
2007, Climate Change: The Citizen's Agenda, Eighth Report of Session 2006-07, Vol. 2: Oral and Written Evidence
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*abalagjaną
- Englishofflay
From off- + lay. Possibly from Middle English oflæien (“to offlay; delay”), from Old English ofleċġan (“to lay down; put away; overlay; cover”), from Proto-Germanic *abalagjaną. Compare also Dutch afleggen, German ablegen.
More words from Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
offlay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offlay
“offlay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offlay. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “offlay,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offlay.
Source: offlay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.