duff

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Noun 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Noun 1.3.2 Adjective 1.3.2.1 Translations 1.4 Etymology 3 1.4.1 Noun 1.4.1.1 Translations 1.5 Etymology 4 1.5.1 Verb 1.5.1.1 Related terms 1.6 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /dʌf/

  Rhymes: -ʌf

[edit] Etymology 1

Representing a northern pronunciation of dough.

[edit] Noun

duff (plural duffs)

1. (dialectal) Dough.
2. A stiff flour pudding, often with dried fruit, boiled in a cloth bag, or steamed
   • 1901, Henry Lawson, short story The Ghosts of Many Christmases, published in Children of the Bush [1]:

     The storekeeper had sent them an unbroken case of canned plum pudding, and probably by this time he was wondering what had become of that blanky case of duff.

[edit] Etymology 2

Origin uncertain; probably imitative.

[edit] Noun

duff (plural duffs)

1. (Scottish, US) Decaying vegetable matter on the forest floor.
2. Coal dust.
3. (slang) The bits left in the bottom of the bag after the booty has been consumed, like crumbs.
4. Something spurious or fake; a counterfeit, a worthless thing.
5. (baseball) (slang) an 1800s baseball term meaning an error

[edit] Adjective

duff (comparative duffer, superlative duffest)

1. (British, Australian) Worthless; not working properly, defective.

   Why do I always get a shopping trolley with duff wheels?

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 3

Origin uncertain; perhaps the same as Etymology 1, above.

[edit] Noun

duff (plural duffs)

1. (US, slang) The buttocks.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 4

Originally thieves' slang; probably a back-formation from duffer.

[edit] Verb

to duff (third-person singular simple present duffs, present participle duffing, simple past and past participle duffed)

1. (slang, obsolete) To disguise something to make it look new.
2. (Australian) To alter the branding of stolen cattle; to steal cattle.
3. (British, slang) To beat (up).

   I heard Nick got duffed up behind the shopping centre at the weekend.

4. (US, golf) To hit the ground behind the ball.

[edit] Related terms

• duffer

[edit] See also

• up the duff