▪ I. † naff(e Obs. rare—0.
[Of obscure origin.]
Some water-bird.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 9/17 A Naffe, a birde, vria. 1678 Littleton Lat.-Eng. Dict., Vria, a bird called a naff. Naff, mergus cirrhatus. |
▪ II. naff, v. slang.
(næf)
[Of uncertain origin: Partridge links the word tentatively with old backslang naf = fan (the female genitals: see fanny4 2). Cf. eff v. (perh. with metanalysis).]
intr. A euphemistic substitution for fuck v. Freq. used imp. with off: ‘go away’.
| 1959 K. Waterhouse Billy Liar ii. 37 Naff off, Stamp, for Christ sake! 1975 Clement & La Frenais Porridge 63 ‘It's all been arranged, it's all set up, right? So naff off’, I said. 1977 ― Further Stir of Porridge 178, I restrained him with an iron grip to the wrist. ‘Naff off!’ 1977 Sounds 9 July 16/1 Ain't never seen no dole queue, So naff off. 1977 Custom Car Nov. 30/1 ‘Go and get yourself naffed, you chauvinistic, capitalistic leper,’ she rejoined sweetly, poking both index fingers into his eyes. 1982 Sunday Times 18 Apr. 1/4 Princess Anne..lost her temper with persistent photographers and told them to ‘naff off’. 1985 S. Lowry Young Fogey Handbk. ii. 30 ‘Salute’..does not mean naffing about in a tutu. |
Hence ˈnaffing ppl. a., used as an intensive.
| 1959 K. Waterhouse Billy Liar 46 Well which one of them's got the naffing engagement ring? 1976 Clement & La Frenais Another Stretch of Porridge 16 Stealing your tin of naffing pineapple chunks? Not even my favourite fruit. |
▪ III. naff, a. slang.
(næf)
[Origin unknown: app. not related to prec.
Cf. north. dial. naffhead, naffin, naffy ‘a simpleton; a blockhead; an idiot’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.); niffy-naffy adj. ‘inconsequential, stupid’ (Gloss. Whitby 1876); Sc. nyaff ‘a term of contempt for any unpleasant or objectional person’ (Scot. Nat. Dict.).]
Unfashionable, outmoded, or vulgar; unselfconsciously lacking style, socially inept; also, worthless, faulty, ‘dud’.
| 1969 It 13–25 June 16/4 A lot of these bands are pretty naff anyway. 1970 Sunday Tel. (Brisbane) 22 Feb. 92/1, I have been to no less than three parties in the past two weeks which rejoiced in the naffest bit of social intercourse it has been my misfortune to witness. 1977 Record Mirror 17 Sept. 9/2 A really naff song that wouldn't get anywhere without Ringo's name on it. 1982 L. Cody Bad Company ii. 13 No electricity... I think it's just a naff battery connection. 1983 Sunday Tel. 21 Aug. 11/3 It is naff to call your house The Gables, Mon Repos, or Dunroamin'. 1985 Times 26 Mar. 11/1 Gaultier had turned everything that fashion most despises, what English youth calls ‘naff’, into high style. |