Dictionary

offer

see also: Offer

Pronunciation

(RP) IPA: /ˈɒfə(ɹ)/, /ˈɔːfə(ɹ)/
(America) IPA: /ˈɔfɚ/
(cot-caught) IPA: /ˈɑfɚ/

Etymology 1

From Middle English offer, from Old English offrian rather than from Old French offre, from offrir ("to offer"), from Latin offerō.

Noun

offer (plural offers)

A proposal that has been made.
What's in his offer?
I decline your offer to contract.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
  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.
Something put forth, bid, proffered or tendered.
His offer was $3.50 per share.
(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.

Translations

French: offre, proposition
German: Vorschlag, Angebot
Italian: offerta, proposta
Portuguese: oferta, proposta
Russian: предложе́ние
Spanish: oferta

Translations

French: offre
German: Angebot
Italian: offerta
Portuguese: oferta
Russian: предложе́ние

Translations

French: offre
German: Angebot, Antrag, Offerte
Italian: transazione
Portuguese: proposta
Russian: предложе́ние

Etymology 2

From Middle English offren, offrien.

Verb

offer (offers, present participle offering; simple past and past participle offered)

(intransitive) To propose or express one's willingness (to do something).
She offered to help with her homework.
(transitive) To present in words; to proffer; to make a proposal of; to suggest.
Everybody offered an opinion.
(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.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
  Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
1. (transitive) To present (something) for sale.
(transitive) To present (something) to God or gods as a gesture of worship, or for a sacrifice.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Exodus xxix:36 ↗:
  Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement.
(transitive, of a thing) To present (something) to the sight etc.; to provide for use, consideration etc.
Synonyms: offer up, showcase
The city offers beautiful architecture.
(transitive, engineering) To place (something) in a position where it can be added to an existing mechanical assembly.
(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.
(intransitive) To happen, to present itself.
- 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
  The occasion offers, and the youth complies.
- 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC ↗, page 72 ↗:
  The opportunity however did not offer till next morning, for Phœbe did not come to bed till long after I was gone to ſleep:
- 1851 November 13, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC ↗, page 7 ↗:
  Much was I disappointed upon learning that the little packet for Nantucket had already sailed, and that no way of reaching that place would offer, till the following Monday.
(obsolete) To make an attempt; typically used with at.
- a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC ↗:
  I will not offer at that I cannot master.
- 1692, Roger L'Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC ↗:
  He would be offering at the shepherd's voice.
- 1711 December 8 (Gregorian calendar), [Jonathan Swift], The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in Beginning and Carrying on the Present War, 4th edition, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC ↗, pages 19–20 ↗:
  [W]ithout offering at any other Remedy, without taking time to conſider the Conſequences, or to reflect on our own Condition, we haſtily engaged in a War which hath coſt us ſixty Millions; […]
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC ↗:
  Here Jones, after expressing the utmost uneasiness, offered to stop her mouth:—“Hey-day! why sure, Mr Jones, you will let me speak; I speaks no scandal, for I only says what I heard from others […]
(transitive) To put in opposition to; to manifest in an offensive or defensive way; to threaten.
to offer violence to somebody
The peasants offered no resistance as they were rounded up.