offline

Etymology

off- + line

adj

1. Of a system, currently not connected (generally electrically) to a larger network. For example, a power plant which is not connected to the grid, or a computer which is not connected to the Internet or to any other communications service.
   I saved the web pages so I could read them later offline.
2. (by extension) Happening in the physical world (the real world) as opposed to on the internet.
   offline meetings
   offline dating
   Thousands of violent videos are still available on the internet, according to Alexander, who claims they lead to an escalation in offline tensions between rival gangs. "I believe some young people are losing their lives as result of this material on the internet," she said. April 19, 2012, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian

adv

1. While offline; with an offline system.
   The 2000 also emulates Diablo, Qume and NEC letter-quality printers, and has a large enough buffer memory to operate off line from the host computer for an hour. 1982, “Hardware News”, in InfoWorld, volume 4, number 26, page 89
   If you want to keep the phone bill down you can set up your Newsreader to operate offline. This means that your Newsreader will fetch new message headers, collect messages you wish to read, and send any responses you may have set up all in one go. You can then read news offline, while you are not running up the phone bill[…]. 2000, Syndey S. Chellen, The Essential Guide to the Internet for Health Professionals, Routledge, page 124
   Men like to play games online, and they also like to find out about the games that they play offline. 2008, Vickie Taylor, The Complete Guide to Writing Web-Based Advertising Copy to Get the Sale, Atlantic Publishing,, page 230
2. (business slang) Outside the current meeting, in a more private setting.
   At meetings, people cut off discussion by saying “Let’s continue that conversation offline,” even though they are meeting face to face, not online; “offline” is a new synonym for “in private,” as though everything public were now on the Internet. 2001, Rosabeth Moss Kantner, Evolve!, Harvard Business Press,, page 1
   The person running the meeting also has the important job of saying “Take it offline.” Whenever two or more people get off on a tangent that doesn’t require everybody’s attention, instruct them to continue the conversation outside the boundaries of the meeting. 2002, Verne Harnish, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, SelectBooks,, page 88
   Offer to discuss the topic offline or table the discussion until things cool down. 2009, Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, The Introverted Leader, Berrett-Koehler,, page 95
3. From ("off") the Internet
   I stole the images offline

verb

1. (computing, transitive) To take (a system, etc.) offline; to demote from an active or online state.
   Offlining a memory processor can be accomplished by using the flexible interleaving capability described earlier to interleave segments across subsets of the memory processors, avoiding the faulty one(s). 1986, Kai Hwang, Steven M. Jacobs, Earl E. Swartzlander, Proceedings of the 1986 International Conference on Parallel Processing, page 462
   Traditionally, you fixed the problem by offlining the disk and re-creating the disk's extents on a different disk using redundant extent copies and then dropping the failed disk. 2008, Sam Alapati, Expert Oracle Database 11g Administration, page 908