offside adj.

by c. 1200 as an emphatic form of Old English of (see of), employed in the adverbial use of that word. The prepositional meaning "away from" and the adjectival sense of "farther" were not firmly fixed in this variant until 17c., but once they were they left the original of with the transferred and weakened senses of the word. Meaning "not working" is from 1861.

Off the cuff "extemporaneously, without preparation" (1938) is from the notion of speaking from notes written in haste on one's shirt cuffs. In reference to clothing, off the rack (adj.) "not tailored, not made to individual requirements, ready-made" is by 1963, on the notion of buying it from the rack of a clothing store; off the record "not to be publicly disclosed" is from 1933; off the wall "crazy" is 1968, probably from the notion of a lunatic "bouncing off the walls" or else in reference to carom shots in squash, handball, etc.

Old English side "flanks of a person, the long part or aspect of anything," from Proto-Germanic *sīdō (source also of Old Saxon sida, Old Norse siða, "flank; side (of meat); coast," Danish side, Swedish sida, Middle Dutch side, Dutch zidje, Old High German sita, German Seite), from adjective *sithas "long" (source of Old English sid "long, broad, spacious," Old Norse siðr "long, hanging down"), from PIE root *se- "long; late" (see soiree).

The "long part of anything" sense is preserved hillside, it also was in 16c.-17c. side-coat "long coat." From 14c. as "lateral half of the body of a slaughtered animal." In reference to bacon, it indicates position relative to the ribs. The meaning "a region, district" is from c. 1400, as in South Side, countryside.

The figurative sense of "position or attitude of a person or set of persons in relation to another" (as in choose sides, side of the story) is recorded by mid-13c. As "an aspect" of anything immaterial (the bright side, etc.), by mid-15c.

The meaning "one of the parties in a transaction" is from late 14c.. The sense of "one of the parties in a sporting contest or game" is from 1690s. The meaning "music on one side of a phonograph record" is attested by 1936. As short for side-dish, by 1848.

The phrase side by side "close together and abreast, placed with sides near together" is recorded from c. 1200. Colloquial on the side "in addition," especially "unacknowledged," with connotations of "illicit, shady," is by 1893.