off-timeadj.
/ˈɒftʌɪm/, U.S. /ˈɔfˌtaɪm/, /ˈɑfˌtaɪm/ U.S. slang (originally Jazz).
Not in time or in rhythm; out of time, badly timed. Also figurative and in figurative contexts: unsatisfactory, inappropriate, out of place.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > disharmony or incongruity > unsuitability or inappropriateness > [adjective] > out of place
misplaced1563
ill-placed1650
off-time1938
1938 Variety 22 June 36 Off-time jive, a sorry excuse.
1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really Blues xiii. 237 If somebody passed a remark that wasn't in line, he'd start singing and beating on the offtime cat.
1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really Blues 377 Offtime, out of harmony, old~fashioned, corny, offensive.
1973 C. Himes Black on Black 188 I can stop in front of a joint where the jukebox's playing and cut a step of off-time boogie.
1992 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 25 Oct. b2/1 [He] brings his Stratocaster guitar onstage and lurches into an off-time shuffle that the band fights to keep on track.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1938