guff
English edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
guff (countable and uncountable, plural guffs)
- (informal, uncountable) Nonsensical talk or thinking.
- 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad[1]:
- “… That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. […] If she had her way, she’d ruin the company inside a year with her hare-brained schemes ; love of the people, and that sort of guff.”
- (informal, uncountable) Superfluous information.
- (informal, uncountable) Insolent or otherwise unacceptable remarks.
- (slang, countable) A fart; act of breaking wind.
Synonyms edit
- (nonsensical talk or thinking): balls, bull, bulldust, bullshit, crap, nonsense, rubbish, tripe
- (insolent or otherwise unacceptable remarks): brass neck, cheek, impudence, insolence, lip
Translations edit
nonsensical talk or thinking
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Verb edit
guff (third-person singular simple present guffs, present participle guffing, simple past and past participle guffed)
- (slang) To fart.
- (slang) To mislead.
- 1955 October, Rex Stout, “The Next Witness”, in Three Witnesses, Bantam, published 1994, →ISBN, page 14:
- "Let me see if I get you. You can't bear to help convict Ashe of murder because you doubt if he's guilty, so you're scooting. Right?"
[…] "That's close enough," Wolfe said.
"Not close enough for me. If you expect me to […] invite a stiff fine for running out on a subpoena […] , don't try to guff me. Say we doubt if Ashe is guilty, but we think he may get tagged because we know Mandelbaum wouldn't go to trial without a good case. Say also our bank account needs a shot in the arm, which is true. So we decide to see if we can […] "
Synonyms edit
- (break wind): See also Thesaurus:flatulate
- (mislead): To bullshit