miff

English

Origin uncertain.

miff (plural miffs)

A small argument; a quarrel.
Synonym: tiff
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
  nay, she would throw it in the teeth of Allworthy himself, when a little quarrel, or miff, as it is vulgarly called, arose between them.
- 1872, Thomas Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree
  John Wildway and I had a miff and parted; […]
A state of being offended.
- 1851, T. S. Arthur, Off-Hand Sketches
  She's taken a miff at something, I suppose, and means to cut my acquaintance.

an argument, quarrel

a state of being offended

miff (third-person singular simple present miffs, present participle miffing, simple past and past participle miffed)

(transitive, usually used in the passive) To offend slightly.
- 1805 March 12, Bernard DeVoto, editor, The journals of Lewis and Clark, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1953, Clark's journal, page 85:
  he [our Interpreter Shabonah] will not agree to work let our Situation be what it may nor Stand a guard, and if miffed with any man he wishes to return when he pleases
- 1824, Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet
  […] answered my Thetis, a little miffed perhaps -- to use the women's phrase — that I turned the conversation upon my former partner, rather than addressed it to herself.
- 1911, James Oliver Curwood, Philip Steele of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police
  "Don't get miffed about it, man," returned Nome with an irritating laugh.
(intransitive) To become slightly offended.
- 1905, George Barr McCutcheon, Jane Cable
  She miffed and started to reply, but thought better of it.

to offend slightly

to become slightly offended