off-color

[awf-kuhl-er, of-]

not having the usual or standard color: an off-color gem.

of doubtful propriety or taste; risqué: an off-color joke.

not in one's usual health: to feel off-color.

Also especially British, off-col·our.Also off-col·ored (for defs 1, 2).

Origin of off-color

First recorded in 1855–60

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Their job is to fire you up, whether via jaw-dropping sports highlight or off-color pronouncement.
ESPN: The Worldwide Leader in Pricks
Marlow Stern
July 29, 2014
Meanwhile, Farage has been slammed for his own off-color remarks about Romanians.
Elections Could Be the Beginning of the End for Europe
Tracy McNicoll, Nadette De Visser
May 21, 2014
The n-word might out of bounds, but an off-color comment, racial in tone?
Why Reality Stars Like Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson Can’t Be Real
Tricia Romano
December 20, 2013
Over his long career, Rush Limbaugh has suffered astonishingly little blowback for off-color remarks.
Racism Is a Tough Sell: The Real Reason Everyone Dumped Paula Deen
Daniel Gross
June 28, 2013
But this is what Edwards has been relegated to: a morbid curiosity, a cautionary tale, a punchline to off-color jokes.
Edwards’s Life in Exile
Michelle Cottle
June 20, 2011

He tried to tell me an off-color story and forgot the point of it, if indeed it had any point.
Europe Revised
Irvin S. Cobb
Take away these off-color peaches and bring me something first class.
Jupiter Lights
Constance Fenimore Woolson
They were off-color eyes, like amber or a light wine, fringed with long black lashes.
Legacy
James H Schmitz
The painted stone may be detected by washing it with alcohol, when the dye will be removed and the off-color will become apparent.
A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public
Frank Bertram Wade
A thing to be forgotten always is the off-color story with which some people persist in polluting the atmosphere.
The Book of Courage
John Thomson Faris

Word Origin and History for off-color

adj.

1858, from off (adv.) + color (n.); originally used of gems; figurative extension to "of questionable taste, risqué" is American English, 1867.