faff
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Dialect, "blow in gusts."
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
faff (plural faffs)
- (UK, slang) An unnecessary or over-complicated task, especially one perceived as a waste of time.
- Adjusting this television is a bit of a faff.
- 2011, Patrick Kingsley, "Life with the Queen Mum revealed", The Guardian
- Breakfast in bed at the royal household is a massive faff. A page boy must carry the tray upstairs, but he's banned from actually serving it. So he leaves it on the floor by the bedroom door, whereupon a housemaid picks it up and knocks on said portal.
[edit] Verb
faff (third-person singular simple present faffs, present participle faffing, simple past and past participle faffed)
- (UK, slang) To waste time on an unproductive activity.
- I decided to stop faffing about and get some work done.
[edit] Usage notes
Particularly used as faff about or faff around.
[edit] Synonyms
- dick around (American)
