cuff

cuff

See also: Cuff

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʌf/
• Rhymes: -ʌf

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Etymology 1

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-West Germanic *kuffju, from Proto-Germanic *kupjō (“cap”). Cognate with Middle High German kupfe (“cap”).

Noun

cuff (plural cuffs)

1. (obsolete) glove; mitten
2. the end of a shirt sleeve that covers the wrist
3. the end of a pants leg, folded up
4. (informal, plural only) handcuffs

Derived terms

• double cuff
• French cuff
• mousquetaire cuff
• off the cuff
• on the cuff
• pressure cuff
• rotator cuff
• shoot one's cuffs
• trumpet cuff

 

Related terms

• cufflinks
• turnup
• off-the-cuff

Translations

the end of a shirt sleeve that covers the wrist

Aromanian: mãnichetã f Belarusian: абшэ́ўка f (abšéŭka), абшла́г m (abšláh), манжэ́та f (manžéta) Bulgarian: манше́т m (manšét), ръкавела (bg) f (rǎkavela) Catalan: puny (ca) m, bocamàniga f Chinese: Mandarin: 袖口 (zh) (xiùkǒu) Czech: manžeta (cs) f Danish: manchet c Dutch: manchet (nl) f, voormouw Emilian: pulsén m, peramàn m, pulsèin m Esperanto: manumo (eo) Finnish: hihansuu (fi), kalvosin (fi) French: manchette (fr) f Galician: puño (gl) m German: Manschette (de) f, Bündchen (de) n, Ärmelbündchen n, Hemdmanschette f, Luftmanschette f Greek: μανσέτα (el) n (manséta) Hebrew: חֵפֶת‎ (he) m (hepet) Hungarian: mandzsetta (hu) Indonesian: manset (id) Irish: cufa m Italian: polsino m Japanese: 袖口 (ja) (そでぐち, sodeguchi), カフ (ja) (kafu) Korean: 수구 (ko) (sugu), 커프스 (keopeuseu) Macedonian: манже́тна f (manžétna) Norwegian: Bokmål: mansjett m Nynorsk: mansjett m Polish: mankiet (pl) m Portuguese: punho (pt) m Romanian: manșetă (ro) f Russian: манже́та (ru) f (manžéta), обшла́г (ru) m (obšlág) Scottish Gaelic: bann-dùirn m Slovak: manžeta f Spanish: puño (es) m, ruedo (es) m Swedish: manschett (sv) c Tagalog: punyos Turkish: manşet (tr) Ukrainian: манже́та (uk) f (manžéta), обшла́г m (obšláh)

the end of a pants leg, folded up

Bulgarian: манше́т m (manšét) Finnish: lahkeenkäänne, housunkäänne, upslaaki (fi) French: revers (fr) m German: Aufschlag (de) m, Umschlag (de) m, Ärmelaufschlag m, Hosenaufschlag m Greek: ρεβέρ (el) n (revér) Italian: orlo (it) m Macedonian: манже́тна f (manžétna) Polish: mankiet (pl) m Portuguese: barra (pt) f Romanian: manșetă (ro) f, margine (ro) f Russian: отворо́т (ru) m (otvorót) (на брю́ках) Spanish: bajo (es) m, vuelta (es) f, bastilla f

Verb

cuff (third-person singular simple present cuffs, present participle cuffing, simple past and past participle cuffed)

1. (transitive) To furnish with cuffs.
2. (transitive) To handcuff.

Translations

to handcuff — see handcuff

Etymology 2

1520, “to hit”, apparently of North Germanic origin, from Norwegian kuffa (“to push, shove”) or Swedish kuffa (“to knock, thrust, strike”), from the Proto-Germanic base *skuf- (skuƀ), from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-, see also Lithuanian skùbti (“to hurry”), Polish skubać (“to pluck”), Albanian humb (“to lose”).

Germanic cognates include Low German kuffen (“to box the ears”), German kuffen (“to thrash”). More at scuff, shove, scuffle.

Verb

cuff (third-person singular simple present cuffs, present participle cuffing, simple past and past participle cuffed)

1. (transitive) To hit, as a reproach, particularly with the open palm to the head; to slap.
   • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

     I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again.

   • 1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number(s))”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], OCLC 460679539:

     [They] with their quills did all the hurt they could, / And cuff'd the tender chickens from their food.

2. (intransitive) To fight; to scuffle; to box.
   • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis; John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Eighth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], OCLC 80026745:

     While the peers cuff to make the rabble sport.

3. To buffet.
   • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 1013215631, page 24:

     cuffed by the gale

Translations

To hit, as a reproach

Bulgarian: пляскам (bg) (pljaskam) Finnish: läimäyttää (fi) French: gifler (fr), souffleter (fr) German: ohrfeigen (de), einen Klaps geben, abfotzen Macedonian: плеснува (plesnuva), удира шлаканица (udira šlakanica) Spanish: abofetear (es)

Noun

cuff (plural cuffs)

1. A blow, especially with the open hand; a box; a slap.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 17:

     The Sarazin sore daunted with the buffe / Snatcheth his sword, and fiercely to him flies; / Who well it wards, and quyteth cuff with cuff:

   • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, OCLC 963614346:

     many a bitter kick and cuff

Derived terms

• Chinese thumb cuff
• cuff on the ear

 

Noun

cuff (plural cuffs)

1. (Scotland) The scruff of the neck.