Cuff definition
An example of cuff is for a police officer to put metal handcuffs around a criminal's wrists.
An example of cuff is to beat someone up.
An example of a cuff is the close-fitting end of a sweater sleeve.
An example of a cuff is a metal circle that goes around a criminal's wrist.
An example of a cuff is a hitting of someone's face.
- In an extemporaneous or informal manner.
- On credit.
- in an offhand manner; extemporaneously
- on credit
- to flex the elbow or wrist so as to expose one's shirt cuffs beyond the coat sleeves
Other Word Forms
Noun
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of cuff
- Middle English cuffe mitten
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- Origin unknown
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English cuffe, coffe (“glove, mitten”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old English cuffie (“hood, cap”), from Medieval Latin cofia, cofea, cuffa, cuphia (“helmet, headdress, hood, cap”), from Frankish *kuf(f)ja (“headdress”), from Proto-Germanic *kupjō (“cap”). Cognate with Middle High German kupfe (“cap”).
From Wiktionary
- 1520, “to hit”, apparently of North Germanic origin, from Norwegian kuffa (“to push, shove”) or Swedish kuffa (“to knock, thrust, strike”). Related to Low German kuffen (“to box the ears”), German kuffen (“to thrash”). Perhaps related also to Swedish skuffa (“to push, shove”). More at scuff, shove, scuffle.
From Wiktionary