Word.ws English Dictionary

off licence

off licence 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 licence

pluraloff licences

Questions about off licence

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

Words near off licence in the dictionary

  1. off duty
  2. off guard
  3. off keel
  4. off kilter
  5. off label
  6. off licence
  7. off licences
  8. off like a bride's nightie
  9. off like a dirty shirt
  10. off like a prom dress
  11. off line

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: off licence (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 licence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/off_licence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.