[Of uncertain origin: cf. G. Rogues’ cant kuffen to thrash (‘perh. of Hebraic origin,’ Sievers); also Sw. kuffa to thrust, push.]
1. trans. To strike with the fist, or with the open hand; to buffet.
1530. Palsgr., 502/2. I cuffe one, I pomell hym about the heed, Je torche.
1570. Levins, Manip., 184/3. To cuffe, colaphizare.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. iii. 48. Priest, beware your Beard, I meane to tugge it, and to cuffe you soundly.
1676. D’Urfey, Mad. Fickle, V. ii. Sirra you shall be hufft and cufft, and flip’d and kick’d.
1781. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 25 Aug. I think a man deserves to be cuffed for saying any lady will marry him.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, I. iv. 64. She ran out into the ain and cuffed the boys’ ears.
b. transf. To beat, strike, buffet.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XV. 575. Like a wave … that … down doth come And cuff a ship.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 43. The angry winds not ay Do cuff the roaring deep.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. VI. i. The budded peaks of the wood … Caught and cuff’d by the gale.
† c. To vanquish in fight, ‘beat,’ ‘lick.’ Obs.
a. 1653. G. Daniel, Idyll, i. 32. The fabled Monsters, wch Sr Bevis oft Vanquisht in fight, and our St George has Cufft.
1769. Johnson, 26 Oct., in Boswell. I’ll take you five children from London, who shall cuff five Highland children.
† 2. Of birds: To strike or buffet with the wings, as in fighting (Also absol.) Obs.
1621. G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., XIII. 270. [They] Their opposites with beake and tallons rend; Cuffe with their wings.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., lvii. 171. He hawked at all manner of game … till at length being well cuft and plumed, he was fain to yoke his lawless will under the Grand Charter.
1682. Otway, Venice Pres., II. ii. D i. Watchful with their heavy Wings To cuff down new-fledg’d Virtues.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., III. 1224. The Pigeons … with their quills … cuffed the tender chickens from their food.
1725. Pope, Odyss., II. 179. They [two eagles] cuff, they tear; their cheeks and necks they rend.
3. absol. or intr. To deal or exchange blows; to fight, scuffle.
1611. [see CUFFLE].
1675. Cotton, Poet. Wks. (1765), 223. I’ll cuff with thee for twenty Pound. Ibid., 224. To prate, And cuff it out at Billingsgate.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. VIII. (1697), 108 (J.).
| And clapping Farces, acted by the Court, | |
| VVhile the Peers Cuff, to make the Rabble sport. |
1812. Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 153. All those who choose … in a ring with him to cuff.
1886. J. K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts (ed. 58), 128. Shrill-voiced women cuff, and curse, and nag.
Hence Cuffing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. (In quot. 1609 fig. = Contending, opposing.)
1609. Jas. I., Sp. at Whitehall, in Harl. Misc., I. 12. There are divers crosse and cuffing statutes, and some are penned as they may be taken in divers, yea, contrary sences.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 32. In Cuffing all Blows are aimed at the Face.
1741. Richardson, Pamela, II. 257. I have but just escaped a good Cuffing.
1886. R. F. Burton, Arab. Nts., I. 325. Give her a sound cuffing.
