▪ I. golf, n.
(gɒlf, gɒf)
Forms: 5 gouff, 6 goif(f, (golfe), 6–9 goff, 8–9 gowff, (8 golff, 9 golph), 5– golf.
[Of obscure origin.
Commonly supposed to be an adoption of Du. kolf, kolv- (= G. kolbe, ON. kólfr, etc.), ‘club’, the name of the stick, club, or bat, used in several games of the nature of tennis, croquet, hockey, etc. But none of the Dutch games have been convincingly identified with golf, nor is it certain that kolf was ever used to denote the game as well as the implement, though the game was and is called kolven (the infinitive of the derived vb.). Additional difficulty is caused by the absence of any Scottish forms with initial c or k, and by the fact that golf is mentioned much earlier than any of the Dutch sports. Some mod. Sc. dialects have gowf ‘a blow with the open hand’, also vb. to strike.
The Sc. pronunciation is (gəʊf); the pronunciation (gɒf), somewhat fashionable in England, is an attempt to imitate this.]
a. A game, of considerable antiquity in Scotland, in which a small hard ball is struck with various clubs into a series of small cylindrical holes made at intervals, usually of a hundred yards or more, on a golf-course. The aim is to drive the ball into any one hole, or into all the holes successively, with the fewest possible strokes; commonly two persons, or two couples (a ‘foursome’), play against each other.
| 1457 Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 48/2 And at þe fut bal ande þe golf be vtterly cryt downe and nocht vsyt. 1491 Sc. Acts Jas. IV (1814) II. 226/2 Fut bawis gouff or vthir sic vnproffitable sportis. 1538 Aberdeen Reg. V. 16 (Jam.) At the goiff. a 1575 Diurn. Occurr. (Bannatyne Club) 285 Certane horsmen of Edinburgh..past to the links of Leith, and..tuck nyne burgessis of Edinburgh playand at the golf. c 1615 Sir S. D'Ewes Autobiog. (1845) I. 48 Goff, tennis, or other boys' play. 1669 Shadwell R. Shepherdess iii. Wks. 1720 I. 260 We merrily play At Trap, and at Reels..At Goff, and at Stool-ball. 1711 Ramsay Elegy M. Johnston 37 Whan we were weary'd at the gowff, Then Maggy Johnston's was our howff. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 8 Aug., Hard by, in the fields called the Links, the citizens of Edinburgh divert themselves at a game called Golf. 1806 M. Edgeworth Mor. T., Gardener, Colin's favourite holiday's diversion was playing at goff. 1815 Scott Antiq. ii, Rather than go to the golf or the change-house. 1867 Kingsley Lett. (1878) II. 251 Golf is the queen of games, if cricket is the king. |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
golf bag,
golf cap,
golf-course,
golf match,
golf-player,
golf-stick. Also
golf ball, (
a) a ball used in playing golf; (
b) a colloquial name given to a spherical ball in certain kinds of electric typewriter on which all the type is mounted and which is caused to move to present the required symbol to the paper;
golf cart, (
a) a trolley for carrying golf clubs; (
b) a motorized cart for transporting golfers and their equipment;
golf-club (see
club I. 2 and II. 14);
golf-croquet (see
quot. 1960);
golf-drive, a drive (
drive n. 1 d) in golf; also, a similar stroke in Cricket;
golf-links, the ground on which golf is played;
golf shot, a shot in golf;
golf-widow, a woman whose husband spends much of his spare time playing golf.
| 1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 1446 The New *Golf Bag. Made same style as a cricket bag and large enough to take clubs, sling, balls, etc. 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 12 Oct. 16/3 (Advt.), English golf bag and clubs, also violin, for sale. |
| 1545 Aberdeen Reg. V. 19 (Jam.) Thre dossoun and thre *goif bawis. 1637 in Cramond Ann. Banff (1891) I. 78 He sauld twa of the golf ballis to Thomas Urquhart. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. i, I'll get him off on the instant, like a gowff ba'. 1966 Gloss. Automated Typesetting (ed. 2) 87 The IBM 72 electric typewriter characterized by its stationary platen and the concentration of all type characters on a single, interchangeable globe-shaped unit called a typing element..; sometimes referred to as the ‘*golf ball’ typewriter. 1969 Computers & Humanities Sept. IV. i. 76 This arrangement allows more flexibility than a line printer, since one can change the type ‘golfball’ but it is very, very slow. 1970 British Printer Dec. 73/2 Hard copy is produced by the IBM ‘golfball’. 1970 A. Cameron et al. Computers & O.E. Concordances 32 There is a machine which will read the product of a selectric typewriter with a special golfball. |
| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 235/3 Men's Fancy *Golf Caps at 21c. 1938 Golf cap [see balding a.]. |
| 1951 Golfers' Year II. 136 (Advt.), No other *golf cart has the following unique features. 1963 Golf World Jan. 42/2 An American-style golf cart designed to carry both you and your clubs might seem of little use on Britain's courses. 1964 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 17 July (1970) 183 We had two swift and pleasant hours—and then..into the hangar where the white golf cart waited for us. 1971 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird iii. 28 He had already hired an electric golf-cart, a sorry sight. |
| 1508 Reg. Privy Seal Scot. in Pitcairn Crim. Trials I. 108* Slaughter committed ‘on suddantie’, by the stroke of a ‘*golf-club’. 1753 Scots Mag. Aug. 421/2 The city of Edinburgh's silver goff-club was played for Aug. 4. 1800 A. Carlyle Autobiog. 343 Garrick..had told us to bring golf clubs and balls. 1834 in R. Clark Golf (1875) 79 The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. 1890 H. G. Hutchinson Golf 325 The Royal Liverpool Golf Club. 1931 T. S. Eliot Triumphal March, Those are the golf club Captains, these the Scouts. 1965 A. S. Graham Golf Club x. 64 Every golf club has its distinct golfing types. |
| 1890 Spectator 4 Oct. 438/1 Long stretches of turf..are indispensable for the formation of *golf-courses. |
| 1920 W. Deeping Second Youth xv, To play them at *golf-croquet. 1960 E. P. C. Cotter Tackle Croquet This Way i. 13 A game of Golf Croquet. This is a game in which the hoops are treated as ‘holes’, as in Golf. The balls play in sequence..and the first ball to run the hoop wins the hole and then all proceed to the next hoop. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 16 Feb. 12/2 In such a stroke as a *golf-drive the arm that reaches its fullest extension first is almost certain to be the dominating factor in regulating impact. 1913 Daily Mail 7 July 9/1 A plucky forcing batsman, rather partial to the on ‘golf drive’. |
| 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. ii. iii. 95 *Goff-lengths, or the spaces between the first and last holes, are sometimes extended to the distance of two or three miles. |
| [1877 J. Blackwood Let. 27 Mar. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1956) VI. 357, I am going..to North Berwick... It is a pretty country and there is a Golfing Links.] 1891 H. G. Hutchinson (title) Famous *golf links. 1919 Wodehouse Damsel in Distress xv. 174 He seemed to spend all his spare time frolicking with the man on the golf-links. |
| 1857 J. Blackwood Let. 30 Apr. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1954) II. 324 If you saw me starting for a *Golf match you would think my tastes..simple, if not even childish. 1926 Wodehouse Heart of Goof ii. 60, I am playing a very important golf-match this morning. 1971 ‘H. Howard’ Murder One xiii. 157 He wanted to get away..because he had a golf match at two. |
| 1881 Sportsman's Year-bk. 256 Prince Henry, the elder brother of Charles I, was a zealous *golf player. |
| 1903 H. D. G. Leveson-Gower in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket xi. 352 ‘You want the *golf shot?’.. He went to the wicket and made ninety. |
| 1839 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 85 He..made a *goff-stick with a hollow handle. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxi. 206 Each of them had a walrus-rib for a golph or shinny stick. |
| 1928 M. H. Weseen Crowell's Dict. Eng. Gram. 274 *Golf widow, humorous colloquial name for a woman whose husband spends much time playing golf and little time at home. 1965 Punch 19 May 725/1 At the last census, there were more stamp-widows than golf-widows. |
▪ II. golf, v.1 (
gɒlf)
[f. the n.] intr. To play golf.
| 1800 [see vbl. n. below]. 1883 Standard 16 Nov. 5/2 A General Officer who Golfed. 1888 Stevenson in Scribner's Mag. Feb. 271/2 You might golf if you wanted. |
Hence
ˈgolfing vbl. n.; also
attrib.| 1800 A. Carlyle Autobiog. 343 We crossed the river to the golfing-ground. 1866 Miss Mulock Noble Life xvii. 299 Coming in from a long golfing match. 1867 Cornh. Mag. Apr. 490 When the golfing day is done. 1880 Daily Tel. 4 Oct., Statutes were promulgated..against golfing. 1891 Sir D. Wilson Right Hand 139 Sets of golfing drivers and clubs. |
▪ III. † golf, v.2 Sc. Obs. [Imitative.] intr. Of a pig: To grunt or snort, as in rage. Only in
pres. pple. and vbl. n.| a 1500 Colkelbie Sow 224 Thay come golfand full grim; Mony long tuthit bore [etc.]. Ibid. 740 Thay war ourthrawin..For sory swyne for thair golfing affraid. |
▪ IV. golf obs. form of
gulf.
▪ V. golf(e obs. form of
goaf1,
goave v.