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prettygoodwordoffal (AW-fuhl, OHF-uhl) - n., the internal organs (exclusive of muscle and bone) of a butchered animal, viscera; that which is discarded in dressing an animal, refuse, rubbish.
Slightly confusing definition because there's two contradictory meanings: the internal organs that are edible (such as liver, tripe, kidneys, and so on) and the waste parts that are considered inedible (which can include the same organs). Etymologically, the second meaning came first: first appears in Middle English in the 13th century borrowed or influenced by some combination of cognates in Old English (offeallan), Old Norse (affall), Middle Dutch (afval), and Middle German (abfall), all combined forms of off + fall -- those parts that fall off the butcher's block.
---L.
Slightly confusing definition because there's two contradictory meanings: the internal organs that are edible (such as liver, tripe, kidneys, and so on) and the waste parts that are considered inedible (which can include the same organs). Etymologically, the second meaning came first: first appears in Middle English in the 13th century borrowed or influenced by some combination of cognates in Old English (offeallan), Old Norse (affall), Middle Dutch (afval), and Middle German (abfall), all combined forms of off + fall -- those parts that fall off the butcher's block.
---L.
