duff1

[duhf] /dʌf/
noun, Slang.
1.
the buttocks or rump:
If you don't like the way things are, get off your duff and do something about it!
Origin
1885-90; expressive word, perhaps akin to doup

duff2

[duhf] /dʌf/
noun
1.
a stiff flour pudding, boiled or steamed and often flavored with currants, citron, and spices.
Origin
1830-40; dialectal variant (Scots, N England) of dough

duff3

[duhf] /dʌf/
verb (used with object), Slang.
1.
to give a deliberately deceptive appearance to; misrepresent; fake.
2.
British. (in golf) to misplay (a golf ball), especially to misjudge one's swing so that the club strikes the ground behind the ball before hitting it.
3.
Australian.
  1. to steal (cattle).
  2. (formerly) to alter the brand on (stolen cattle).
4.
to cheat someone.
Origin
1830-40; back formation from duffer (def 3)

duff4

[duhf] /dʌf/
noun
1.
organic matter in various stages of decomposition on the floor of the forest.
2.
fine, dry coal, especially anthracite.
Origin
1835-45; orig. Scots dial.; perhaps metaphorical use of duff2, by association with Scots dowf decayed, rotten (see dowf), deaf (of soil) unproductive, springy to the tread
Examples from the web for duff
  • It would be good to see if the old body worked after sitting on my duff for the past hundred days.
  • When it was set up, it said it would not take on big, duff companies in over-crowded industries such as retailing and property.
  • But lawyers have always cared about making money, and giving duff legal advice is seldom a good business plan.
  • In fact, the one certainty is that the manager will eventually have a duff year when he earns no performance fee at all.
  • Government spending props up bad old habits, keeping duff companies going and rewarding their sins with plum public contracts.
  • But in the eighth year of an economic boom you would not expect to see duff loans rising.
  • It encouraged the managers to lend regardless, and it discouraged prudent provisioning against duff loans.
  • Much of the duff information came from ignorant sales people and junior staff.
  • duff leaders were sent at first to run the inadequate police mission.
  • It conjures the image of a cyclist pushing or carrying his duff lump of transport instead of riding it.
British Dictionary definitions for duff

duff1

/dʌf/
noun
1.
a thick flour pudding, often flavoured with currants, citron, etc, and boiled in a cloth bag: plum duff
2.
(slang) up the duff, pregnant
Word Origin
C19: Northern English variant of dough

duff2

/dʌf/
verb (transitive)
1.
(slang) to change the appearance of or give a false appearance to (old or stolen goods); fake
2.
(Austral, slang) to steal (cattle), altering the brand
3.
(golf, informal) Also sclaff. to bungle (a shot) by hitting the ground behind the ball
adjective
4.
(Brit, informal) bad or useless, as by not working out or operating correctly; dud: a duff idea, a duff engine
See also duff up
Word Origin
C19: probably back formation from duffer

duff3

/dʌf/
noun
1.
(slang) the rump or buttocks
Word Origin
C20: special use of duff1
Word Origin and History for duff
n.

"buttocks, rump," 1830s, of unknown origin.

Slang definitions & phrases for duff

duff

noun

The buttocks; rump; ass: A bunch of lazy guys sitting around on our duffs

[1830s+; origin uncertain; perhaps black slang for fud, ''buttocks,'' attested by 1785; perhaps fr duff, ''a (sailors') pudding boiled in a bag,'' which bag may have suggested a human fundament in shape; in this sense duff is a Northern pronunciation of dough]


duff in Technology

1. Duff's device.
2. Tom Duff.