Meanings
-
1
noun
the edible internal organs and other trimmings of a butchered animal
The cook braised the offal slowly with onions and herbs.
-
2
noun
waste or by-product left from a manufacturing or agricultural process, especially grain milling
The mill sold its grain offal as feed for livestock.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Middle English offal, literally material that 'falls off' when something is cut or processed, from off + fall. The older broad sense 'scraps or refuse from a process' narrowed in butchery to discarded or edible organs and trimmings; compare Dutch afval, 'waste.'