Offer

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈɒfÉ™(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -É’fÉ™(ɹ)
• US IPA: /ˈɔfÉš/
• cot-caught IPA: /ˈɑfÉš/

Alternative forms

• offre obsolete

From Middle English offer, 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.

Full definition of offer

Noun

1. A proposal that has been made.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, 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. What's in his offer?
3. Something put forth, bid, proffered or tendered.
   His offer was $3.50 per share.
4. (legal) 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

• make an offer

From Middle English offren, offrien, from Old English offrian ("to offer, sacrifice, bring an oblation"), from Latin offerō ("to present, bestow, bring before", literally to bring to), from Latin ob + ferō ("bring, carry"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-, *bʰrē- ("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. Displaced Old English ābēodan from ā- + bēodan ("to command, decree, summon").

Verb

1. (transitive) To present (something) to God as a gesture of worship, or for a sacrifice.
• Bible, Exodus xxix. 36Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement.
2. (transitive) To place (something) in a position where it can be added to an existing mechanical assembly.
• 2009, Roger Williams, Triumph Tr2, 3, 3a, 4 & 4aThe 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.
3. (intransitive) To propose or express one's willingness (to do something).
   She offered to help with her homework.
4. (transitive) To present in words; to proffer; to make a proposal of; to suggest.
   Everybody offered an opinion.
5. (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.
• 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, Our banks are out of control, 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.
6. (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.
7. (intransitive) To happen, to present itself.
• John Dryden (1631-1700)The occasion offers, and the youth complies.
• 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Penguin 1985, p. 64:The opportunity, however, did not offer till next morning, for Phoebe did not come to bed till long after I was gone to sleep.
8. (obsolete) To make an attempt; used with at.
• Francis Bacon (1561-1626)I will not offer at that I cannot master.
• Roger L'Estrange (1616-1704)He would be offering at the shepherd's voice.
• Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)without offering at any other remedy
9. (transitive) To put in opposition to; to manifest in an offensive way; to threaten.
   to offer violence to somebody

Usage notes

This is a catenative verb that takes the to-infinitive. See

off + -er

Noun

1. (used in combinations from phrasal verbs) agent noun of off
• 2003, James-Jason Gantt, Losing Summer Chapter , 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.

Anagrams

• reffo