Word.ws English Dictionary

off-license

off-license is the alternative spelling of off-licence.

Meaning of off-licence

Noun

off-licence (plural off-licences)

  1. (Ireland, UK) A shop selling alcohol for consumption only off the premises.
    • Rolliver's inn, the single alehouse at this end of the long and broken village, could only boast of an off-license; hence, as nobody could legally drink on the premises, the amount of overt accommodation for consumers was strictly limited to a little board about six inches wide and two yards long...1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 40

Forms of off-license

pluraloff-licenses

Questions about off-license

What is off-license the alternative spelling of?
Off-license is the alternative spelling of off-licence.

Words near off-license in the dictionary

  1. off-label
  2. off-lease
  3. off-leash
  4. off-licence
  5. off-licences
  6. off-license
  7. off-licenses
  8. off-limits
  9. off-line
  10. off-list
  11. off-load

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: off-license (page history and authors); off-licence (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “off-license.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/off-license. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.