jQuery .offsetParent() gets the closest positioned ancestor element

Syntax and Description

gets the closest positioned ancestor element. Return value is the new jQuery object.

Consider a page with a basic nested list with a positioned element as follows:

<ul class="level-1">
 <li class="item-ii">II
     <ul class="level-2">
        <li class="item-a">A</li>
        <li class="item-b">B
            <ul class="level-3">
                <li class="item-1">1</li>
            </ul>/*from ww w . j  av a2  s.c om*/
        </li>
    </ul>
 </li>
 <li class="item-iii">III</li>
</ul>

$('li.item-a').offsetParent().css('background-color', 'red'); marks item II.