subs. phr. (colloquial).—1.  A contrast; an alternative; a QUID PRO QUO (q.v.).

1

  1749.  SMOLLETT, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 151. As a SET-OFF against his hen-pecked cowardice … he gave me fifty ducats. Ibid., 249. You will not have much spare room … but as a SET-OFF I promise that you shall be superbly lodged at Lisbon.

2

  1844.  J. S. MILL, Principles of Political Economy, III. xii. 6. If the cheque is paid into a different bank, it will not be presented for payment, but liquidated by SET-OFF against other cheques.

3

  1842.  LORD BROUGHAM, Political Philosophy, v. An example or two of peace broken by the public voice is a poor SET-OFF against the constant outrages upon humanity and habitual inroads upon the happiness of the country subject to an Absolute Monarch, which so generally results from his almost uniform propensity to war.

4

  1879.  FROUDE, Cæsar, 454. He pleaded his desertion of Pompey as a SET-OFF against his faults.

5

  2.  (colloquial).—An adornment; an ornament.

6

  1619.  FLETCHER, The Wild-Goose Chase, iii. 1.

                            This coarse creature,
That has no more SET-OFF but his jugglings,
His travell’d tricks——

7