Definition of "offing"

I came to an Anchor in seven fathomes water in the offing to Sea.

1610, Samuel Argall, quoted 1625, by Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes, p84

I, poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked during a dreadful storm in the offing, came on shore on this dismal, unfortunate island, which I called The Island of Despair; all the rest of the ship's company being drowned, and myself almost dead.

1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, section 5

That's the Grampus's crew. I seed her reported in the offing this morning; a three years' voyage, and a full ship.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley

In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint […]

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], part I

[…] I saw the land run out a great length into the sea, at about the distance of four or five leagues before me; and the sea being very calm, I kept a large offing to make this point.

1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, section 3

However, what with the help of this Ebb, and our Boats, we by Noon had got an Offing of 1 1/2 or 2 Miles, yet we could hardly flatter ourselves with hopes of getting Clear […]

1768-71, published 1893, James Cook, Captain Cook's Journal, First Voyage, chapter 8

We beat off shore during the whole of the night, when the weather moderated, and at daybreak we found out that we had not gained much offing, in consequence of the current […]

1846, Frederick Marryat, The Privateersman, chapter 2