You searched for: “awful
awful, offal
awful (AW fuhl) (adjective)
1. Dreadful, bad, terrible: What awful weather!

Kendrick was guilty of the awful crime of murder.

2. Awe-inspiring, awesome, wondrous: The astronauts know the awful expanse of the solar system.
offal (AWF’l) (noun)
The waste parts of butchered animals, carrion, carcass; such as, entrails: The hunters took the meat and left the offal for the buzzards.

The word offal is actually the waste parts that “fall off” a butchered animal. The word comes from "off" + "fall".

English borrowed the word from Middle Dutch afval, a compound formed from af, "off" and vallen, "fall" which referred to both the "extremities of animals cut off by the butcher; such as, feet, tail, etc." and "shavings, peelings", or "general refuse". By the 15th century, offal had the meaning of "animals' entrails".

—Compiled from information presented in
Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto; Arcade Publishing;
New York; 1990; pages 371-372.

"Garbage is an offal waste".

—Evan Esar

"What is that awful smell?" Lucia asked. The response was, "It's offal that smells so awful".

A unit related to: “awful
(Latin: fearful, awful, boding ill, ill-omened, horrible, terrible)
Word Entries at Get Words: “awful
awful (AW fuhl) (adjective), more awful, most awful
1. Used to describe something or someone as being dreadful, terrible, horrible, or ugly: What awful weather!

Jarrod was guilty of the awful crime of murder.

2. Used to describe something that is inspiring, awe-inspiring, wondrous; terrifying, dreadful, majestic, disquieting: The astronauts know the awful expanse of the solar system.
3. Etymology: some grammarians think awful still only means "awesome, inspiring awe, wondrous", etc. In current English, awful usually means "bad" or "unpleasant"; for example, such usage as: "This cold makes me feel awful," "That was an awful movie," are correct.

Good speakers and writers don't use the adjective awful when they mean the adverb "awfully". In expressions as "He's awful brave", or "We had an awful good time" are not considered acceptable usages in English.

They should be presented as, "He's awfully (very, exceptionally, extremely) brave", "We had an awfully (very, exceptionally, extremely) good time". Neither awful nor "awfully" should be used too often because there are many other synonyms which can be more precise, fresher, and that can add variety to a person's writing or speaking style.

—Compiled from and based on information located in
Family Word Finder, A New Thesaurus of Synonyms and Antonyms in Dictionary Form;
The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.; Pleasantville, New York; 1975; page 73.
This entry is located in the following unit: English Words in Action, Group A (page 7)