scuff

scuff

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʌf/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌf

Etymology 1

From Scots scuff (“to touch lightly, graze, hit”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old Norse skúfa (“to shove, push aside”), from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną (“to shove”). Or, perhaps imitative. More at English shove.

Verb

scuff (third-person singular simple present scuffs, present participle scuffing, simple past and past participle scuffed)

1. To scrape the feet while walking.
2. To scrape and roughen the surface of (shoes, etc.)
3. To hit lightly, to brush against.
   • 1979, V. S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River:

     The lawns and gardens had been scuffed away.

   • 2011 December 29, Keith Jackson, “SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0”, in Daily Record‎:

     Wallace threw himself at it to connect with a flying header. He looked a certain scorer but his effort scuffed the inside of Fraser Forster’s post.

4. To mishit (a shot on a ball) due to poor contact with the ball.
   • 2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC‎:

     The Montenegro captain was finding space at will and followed up with a speculative shot that he scuffed wide, after Wales were slow in closing down the Juventus striker.

Derived terms

• scuff up

Related terms

• scuffle

Translations

to mishit

Italian: mancare (it) Romanian: lufta (ro)

to scrape the feet while walking

Bulgarian: тътря си краката (tǎtrja si krakata) Finnish: laahustaa (fi), raahustaa Italian: strusciare (it), sfregare (it) Portuguese: arrastar (pt) Russian: ша́ркать (ru) n (šárkatʹ), волочи́ть но́ги (voločítʹ nógi) Spanish: arrastrar (es) pl Ukrainian: човгати (uk) (čovhaty)

Noun

scuff (plural scuffs)

1. (sometimes attributive) A mark left by scuffing or scraping.

   Someone left scuff marks in the sand.

   • 2015, Charles W. Jones, Hydrangeas on the Lanai

     He flung his shoes across the room, their soles leaving black scuffs on the dingy wall.

Derived terms

• scuff mark

Related terms

• scuffed

Translations

scraping, usually with one's feet

Italian: sfregamento (it) m

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Noun

scuff (plural scuffs)

1. A scurf; a scale.
2. The back part of the neck; the scruff.
   • 1858, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do with It?

     One of the biggest and most redoubted of the Black Family was now in that seat of dignity, and, refusing surlily to yield it at Jasper's rude summons, was seized by the scuff of the neck, and literally hurled on the table in front.

See also

• scoff
• scruff

Anagrams

• Cuffs, cuffs