▪ I. duff, n.1
(dʌf)
[orig. a northern pronunc. of dough: cf. enough.]
a. Dough, paste. (dial.) b. A flour pudding boiled in a bag.; a dumpling.
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast iv. 7 To enhance the value of the Sabbath to the crew, they are allowed on that day a pudding, or, as it is called, a ‘duff’. 1847–78 Halliwell, Duff, dough, paste. North. a 1870 J. P. Robson Wor Mally Torned Bloomer (Northumb. Gloss.), Aw wesh'd the currans, wey'd the duff. 1872 C. King Mountain. Sierra Nev. vii. 139 Crowning the repast with a duff, accurately globular. 1880 Besant & Rice Seamy Side I. 8 Two helps of minced veal and two of currant duff. |
| Comb. 1883 Chamb. Jrnl. 142 The sailors' duffbags. |
▪ II. duff, n.2 local.
(dʌf)
[Possibly the same as prec.; but more prob. onomatopœic, or associated with the sound made in striking a soft spongy substance.]
1. Sc. a. ‘The soft or spongy part of a loaf, a turnip, a new cheese, etc.’ b. ‘A soft spongy peat.’ (Jam.).
2. Sc. and U.S. The decaying vegetable matter (fallen leaves, etc.) which covers forest ground.
| 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. xvi. (1855) 150 Dung, mixed with duff-mould. 1878 Pop. Sc. Monthly XIII. 289 (Cent.) This duff (composed of rotten spruce-trees, cones, needles, etc.) has the power of holding water almost equal to a sponge. 1886 Rep. Forest Comm. State N.Y. 102 (Cent.) I have seen the smoke from fires in the duff even after the snow has fallen. |
3. Coal dust or smaller coals, after separation of the nuts; slack, dross. Also duff coal.
| 1865 Jevons Coal Quest. (1866) 363 We could hardly prohibit the burning of duff and slack coal on the colliery heaps. 1867 W. W. Smyth Coal & Coal-mining 248 The extended use..of slack and the smaller varieties of screened coal (pease and duff). 1887 Pall Mall G. 2 Nov. 6/1 One ton of common duff coal..has generated as much steam as two tons of good bituminous coal. 1892 [see dross n. 2 b]. |
4. Something worthless or spurious; counterfeit money; smuggled goods; also, the passing or selling of such things. slang.
| 1781 G. Parker View of Society II. 158 Sham leggers. The duff. Whispering dudders. 1879 Macm. Mag. XL. 502/1 Men at the duff (passing false jewellery). 1895 H. L. Williams Love & Lockjaw 7 Lucky my money won't do him any good. It is duff that I carry for a hold-up. 1935 G. Ingram Cockney Cavalcade viii. 120 ‘That's all duff,’ he proceeded. The announcement that so much was rubbish, as it consisted of imitation jewellery [etc.]. |
▪ III. duff, n.3 colloq. (chiefly U.S.) and Brit. regional.
Brit. /dʌf/, U.S. /dəf/
[Origin uncertain; perhaps related to duff n.1]
The buttocks; the backside.
| ? 1837 Ri-tum Ti-fum Songster 22 Lay her on her duff, then,..her belly white to kiss. 1857 Coal Hole Compan. Fourth Coll. 30 Her duff she up and down did jerk, Did frisky Nancy Dawson. 1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield 67 Duff, the fundament. 1942 in G. Legman No Laughing Matter (1975) 407 Otherwise she'd fall on her duff. 1966 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 3 Jan. 20/2 He hasn't been off his duff, hardly, since I got him as a fledgling. 1991 Observer 12 May 20/7 The people were about to sling her out on her duff. 1994 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 7 Oct. a14/3, I did not get the nickname RoboCandidate by sitting on my duff. |
▪ IV. duff, n.4 slang (orig. Austral.).
Brit. /dʌf/, U.S. /dəf/
[Origin uncertain; perhaps related to duff n.1 b, and hence analogous to similar slang phrases for pregnancy such as in the (pudding) club or to have a bun in the oven.]
up the duff: pregnant.
| 1941 S. J. Baker Dict. Austral. Slang Duff, up the (of a woman), pregnant. 1948 D. W. Ballantyne Cunninghams xxiv. 123 What did a man live for? Was it to marry a girl, put her up the duff, slave until the pains came, and then wait for death? 1966 J. Gaskell All Neat in Black Stockings (1968) 68 She has no cravings like girls usually have when they're up the duff. 1990 Picture (Sydney) 28 Nov. 20/2 Lorenzo moved in with 24-year-old stunner Gina Stagno and got her up the duff. 2002 N. Minhas Chapatti or Chips? xxi. 250 He'd go home to Maddy and say, ‘Another woman in MK up the duff.’ |
▪ V. duff, v.1 slang or colloq.
(dʌf)
[A word of thieves' slang. Evidently closely related to duffer n.1 from which (appearing so much later) it may be a back-formation.]
1. trans. To dress or manipulate (a thing) fraudulently, so as to make it look like new or to give it the appearance of something which it is not; to ‘fake up’.
| c 1838 J. Vaill in Mem. (1839) 26 My pillow was a duffed great coat. 1870 W. B. Sanders in 31st Rep. Dep. Keeper Public Rec. p. vi, Some of these..MSS. were so very bad that it would have been impossible to duff them. 1892 Edin. Evening News 3 Mar. 2 A good deal of the old plate was ‘duffed’. |
2. (Australia). To alter the brands on (stolen cattle); to steal (cattle), altering the brands.
| 1869 E. C. Booth Another Eng. 138 The man who owned the ‘duffing paddock’ was said to have a knack of altering cattle brands. 1881 Cheq. Career 306 In such districts ‘duffing’ cattle is thought rather a smart thing to do. 1890 Boldrewood Squatter's Dream xiv. 162 He'd think more of duffing a red heifer than all the money in the country. |
3. To cheat, do out of fraudulently.
| 1863 Sala Capt. Dangerous III. ix. 305 Allowing him to duff me out of a few score pieces at the game of Lansquenet. |
4. to duff up. a. intr. To become foggy or hazy (see also quot. 1876). colloq. or dial.
| 1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Whitby 58/1 Duff up, to drift like road dust on a hot day. 1942 I. Gleed Arise to Conquer x. 94 The weather looks O.K... If it duffs up, Derek, give us a shower of Verey lights to show us the way to come home. |
b. trans. To beat (someone) up, to thrash. Hence duffing-up, a thrashing. slang.
| 1961 Technology May 131/1 Jeff and Bill was duffed up on saterday at st Albans drillhall. 1967 Listener 31 Aug. 261/3 He may have been taught—either through a fine he couldn't pay or a duffing-up he couldn't sustain—that this age has rid itself of some semantic taboos only to enthrone others. 1968 R. Lait Chance to Kill i. 3 They had been duffed up at the police station. 1970 A. Draper Swansong for Rare Bird i. 11 Even when I was getting a good duffing up I just kept on going; as a result I never lost a punch-up. |
Hence ˈduffing vbl. n.; also attrib.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 380 ‘Duffing’ and all that is going down fast. 1858 Fonblanque Life & Labours (1874) 279 Duffing..is the art of giving such a gloss and air of novelty to old clothes as to pass them off for new. 1869 [see 2]. 1881 Cheq. Career 329 ‘Cattle-duffing’ and free-bootery. 1889 Boldrewood Robbery under Arms (1890) 27 It was a duffing yard, sure enough. |
▪ VI. duff, v.2
[Back-formation f. duffer n.2]
trans. and intr. In Golf, to perform (a shot) badly (see quot. 1897). Also transf., to make a mess of (something), to muff. Hence duffed ppl. a., duffing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 469/1 The verb ‘to duff’ does not mean..to play as a ‘duffer’ or hopelessly bad player, but simply to hit the ground first, behind the ball, so that the ball is struck with the upper edge of the face, and sent only a short way into the air. Ibid. 469/2 Duffing is very frequently caused by the player having his ball too near his right foot. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 3/1 At the first duffed shot. 1909 Ibid. 30 Apr. 12/2 Mayo duffed his approach. 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 119/2 ‘He duffs everything he touches.’ ‘He is the most duffing duffer that ever duffed.’ 1924 Glasgow Herald 15 June 11 He made one solitary slip when he duffed his putt on Wee Bogle. 1927 Sunday Express 29 May 21/6 The ninth provided Landale's crowning error, for he duffed two mashie shots. |
▪ VII. duff, a. colloq.
(dʌf)
[f. duff n.2; cf. dowf a.]
Worthless, spurious, false, bad, ‘dud’.
| 1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 336/2 Duff (thieves), spurious. 1910 Sessions Paper CLIV. 24 Nov. 82, I rang it [sc. a coin] on the counter; he said ‘Break it up—it is duff.’ 1944 G. Netherwood Desert Squadron 10 It was said by the erks that he once sold rock on Blackpool sands. This was just ‘duff gen’. 1956 R. Robinson Landscape with Dead Dons ix. 79 Pity we got off to a duff start. 1965 J. Lymington Green Drift i. 8, I went down to the pub because the play was so duff. 1967 Crescendo June 24/1 A duff piano player will still sound duff on a Bosendorffer Grand. |