daff

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dæf/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æf

Etymology 1

From Middle English daf, daffe (“fool, idiot”), from Old Norse daufr (“deaf, stupid”), from Proto-Germanic *daubaz (“deaf, stunned”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, whirl, smoke, be obscure”). Doublet of dowf and dof. Cognate with Swedish döv (“deaf”), Danish døv (“deaf, stupid”). More at deaf.

Noun

daff (plural daffs)

1. A fool; an idiot; a blockhead.

Derived terms

• bedaff
• daffish
• daffock
• daffy

Etymology 2

From Middle English daffen (“to render foolish”), from daf, daffe (“fool, idiot”). See above.

Verb

daff (third-person singular simple present daffs, present participle daffing, simple past and past participle daffed)

1. (intransitive) To be foolish; make sport; play; toy.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)

2. (Britain, dialect, obsolete) To daunt.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Grose to this entry?)

Derived terms

• daffing
• daffle

Etymology 3

Variant of doff.

Verb

daff (third-person singular simple present daffs, present participle daffing, simple past and past participle daffed)

1. (transitive) To toss (aside); to dismiss.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2 Scene 3

     DON PEDRO. I would she had bestowed this dotage on me; I would have daffed all other respects and made her half myself.

   • 1948, CS Lewis, ‘Notes on the Way’:

     Such is the record of Scripture. Nor can you daff it aside by saying that local and temporary conditions condemned women to silence and private life.

2. (transitive) To turn (someone) aside; divert.

Etymology 4

From daffodil.

Noun

daff (plural daffs)

1. (Britain, informal) Clipping of daffodil.

   Get your daffs here - £2 a bunch.

   • 1934, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Nine Tailors

     You want a few more daffs on the decani side […]

Etymology 5

Noun

daff (plural daffs)

1. Alternative form of daf (“type of drum”)

Anagrams

• aff'd