To set off; balance; countervail; especially, to cancel by a contrary claim or sum: as, to offset one account against another.n. An offshoot; specifically, in botany, a short lateral shoot, either a stolon or a sucker, by which certain plants are propagated. The houseleek, Sempervivum tectorum, is propagated in this manner. See cut under bulb.n. A scion; a child; offspring.n. A spur or minor branch from a principal range of hills or mountains.n. In surveying, a perpendicular distance, measured from one of the main lines, as to points in the extremities of an inclosure, in order to take in an irregular section, and thus determine accurately the total area.n. In com., a sum, value, or account set off against another sum or account as an equivalent, countervail, or requital sum; hence, generally, any counterbalancing or countervailing thing or circumstance; a set-off.n. In architecture, a horizontal break in a wall or other member, marking a diminution of its thickness. See set-off.n. A terrace: as, grounds laid out in offsets.n. In a vehicle, a branch or fork of metal used to unite parts of the gear, as the backstay to the rear axle.n. In printing, a faulty transfer of superabundant or undried ink on a printed sheet to any opposed surface, as the opposite page. Also known as set-off.n. 10. A branch pipe; also, a more or less abrupt bend in a pipe, made to bring the axis of one part of the pipe out of line with the axis of another part.In mech., to bend so as to bring the axis out of line, but parallel to its original direction: said of a pipe, bar, rod, or shaft.To build with an offset: as, to offset the second story wall four inches.To transfer, by negligence (the moist or undried ink of a newly printed sheet upon the face of an overlying or facing sheet).n. In iron ship-building, an abrupt deviation to one side of the general line of a bar, as an angle-bar, designed to enable it to fit over a part projecting above the surface against which the bar is fitted.