Also kaif, keef, kiff. [Arab. kaif, colloquially kef, well-being, good-humor, enjoyment, pleasure.]
1. A state of drowsiness or dreamy intoxication, such as is produced by the use of bhang, etc. b. The enjoyment of idleness; ‘dolce far niente.’ To make (or do) kef, to pass the time in idleness.
1808. R. Drummond, Illustr. Gram. Guzarattee, etc. (Y.). A kind of confectio Japonica … causing keif, or the first degree of intoxication.
1852. Badger, Nestorians, I. 327. Parties of Christians were making keif, i. e. taking their pleasure and drinking arack.
1864. Sala, in Daily Tel., 23 Dec., 5/5. [At Niagara] You may smoke, you may enjoy your kef,… but you … cannot, study.
1865. W. Cory, Lett. & Jrnls. (1897), 163. I fell into kef, being incapable of sustained thought.
1885. Mrs. H. Ward, trans. Amiel’s Jrnl. (1891), 72. I came to understand the Buddhist trance of the Soufis, the kief of the Turk.
1892. Marianne North, Recoll. Happy Life, II. 9. All the grand people were doing ‘kef’ after breakfast under the trees.
1897. Keith, Plea Simpler Faith, 137. To him [the Bedouin] the greatest enjoyment is his Kaif, his perfect idleness.
2. (In Morocco and Algeria, in form kief, keef.) Indian hemp or other substance smoked to produce this state. Also attrib.
1878. Hooker & Ball, Marocco, 188. The habitual uses of kief prepared from Indian hemp.
1889. Hall Caine, Scapegoat (1891), I. 193. Men lay about holding pipes charged with keef.
1892. W. B. Harris, in Blackw. Mag., Sept., 426/1. The well-fed lazy slave of Wazan lounging in the sun, kiff-pipe in mouth.
