Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OFF'SET, n.¹ [off and set.]

1. A shoot; a sprout from the roots of a plant. Locke. Ray.
2. In surveying, a perpendicular let fall from the stationary lines to the hedge, fence or extremity of an inclosure.
3. In accounts, a sum, account or value set off against another sum or account, as an equivalent. O. Wolcott. [This is also written set-off.]