English

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Noun

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gaffa (plural gaffas)

  1. (UK, colloquial) Gaffer tape.
    • 2012, Katherine Angel, Unmastered, Penguin, published 2014, page 250:
      A body – a corpse – my own, I think – wrapped in tape, suspended in gaffa.

French

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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gaffa

  1. third-person singular past historic of gaffer

Italian

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Etymology

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From Middle French gaffe, from Old Occitan gaf (hook), derivative of gafar (to seize), either from Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍆- (gaf-) derived from 𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (giban, to give) or from 𐌲𐌰𐍆𐌰𐌷 (gafah, clasp), from 𐌲𐌰- (ga-) (intensifier) + 𐍆𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (fahan, to catch).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈɡaf.fa/
  • Rhymes: -affa
  • Hyphenation: gàf‧fa

Noun

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gaffa f (plural gaffe)

  1. (nautical) gaff (hooked pole)

Maltese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Sicilian gaffa. Sense 3 is from Italian gaffa.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gaffa f (plural gafef)

  1. (nautical) palm (of a fluke)
  2. bulldozer
  3.  faux pas, gaffe
  4. (figuratively) someone who always has the best cards (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)
  5. (figuratively) glutton (one who eats voraciously)
    Synonym: wikkiel