Noah Webster
Offset
OFF'SET, noun [off and set.]
1. A shoot; a sprout from the roots of a plant.
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.
[This is also written set-off.]
OFF'SET, verb transitive To set one account against another; to make the account of one party pay the demand of another.