• IPA: /dʌf/

Representing a northern England and Scots pronunciation of dough.

duff

1. (dialectal) Dough.
2. A stiff flour pudding, often with dried fruit, boiled in a cloth bag, or steamed.
   • 1901, Henry Lawson, short story The Ghosts of Many Christmases, published in Children of the Bush :

     The storekeeper had sent them an unbroken case of canned plum pudding, and probably by this time he was wondering what had become of that blanky case of duff.

   • 2000, Robert Barlas, Bahamas, page 118:

     Dessert is as substantial as the main course, and none more so than the absolute favorite, guava duff.

3. A pudding-style dessert, especially one made with plums.
   • 2009, Graham Hawkes, Plum duff updated:

     With Christmas well on its way let's take a look at a modern version of an old favourite dessert more often than not reserved for the day we celebrate the birth of Christ: plum duff. It is just as well Christmas falls during the summer school holidays as a nipper this allowed me to be at my grandmother's home when the true traditional plum duff was made.

duff

1. (Scotland, Northwestern US, British Columbia) Decaying vegetable matter on the forest floor.
   • 1886, Annual Report of the Forest Commission of the State of New York

     Forest fires have often been started from wantonness; for the sake of making a big blaze, fires will be carelessly left by guides, or will be smouldering in the duff,* where it will burn for weeks. I have seen the smoke from fires in the duff even after the snow has fallen.

     • Local term for the vegetable growth covering the forest ground of the Adirondacks. under the spruce trees, the falling needles accumulate to considerable depth, forming the "spruce 'duff," a peculiar and interesting variety of forest humus.

   • 1935, "New Equipment for Obtaining Host Material for the Mass Production of Trichogramma Minutum, an Egg Parasite of Various Insect Pests" by Herbert Spencer, Luther Brown, Arthur M. Phillips (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

     These methods also make it possible for the forest officer to describe and to record his observations in precise terms such as “6% percent duff moisture” rather than in generalities such as “pretty dry duff.”

   • 1979, "Estimating pinyon and juniper fuel and biomass from aerial photographs" by Richard O. Meeuwig, Elwood LaVern Miller, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station (USDA Forest Service)

     Depth of litter and duff under the crown of each tree was measured at a point that appeared to represent average depth. Bulk samples of litter (including duff) were taken under four pinyons and three junipers, and ovendried.

   • 1991, "Woody Fuel and Duff Consumption by Prescribed Fire in Northern Idaho Mixed Conifer Logging Slash" from the U.S. Department of Agriculture

     The moisture content of the deep pockets of rotten wood was much greater than of the litter-derived duff layer.

   • 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 366:

     Out under the trees, some rangers had found enough duff and dry wood to start a fire beneath a slanting ridge of slate.

   • 2006, Kathy Morey, Mike White, Stacey Corless, Sierra South: Backcountry Trips in Californias Sierra Nevada, page 250:

     The underfooting is mostly duff and sand, through alternating forest and meadow.

   • 2019, Nicola Twilley, “Trailblazers”, in The New Yorker:

     Their task was to carry out a prescribed burn--a carefully controlled, low-intensity fire that clears duff and deadwood, reducing the risk of a catastrophic wildfire.

2. Coal dust, especially that left after screening or combined with other small, unsaleable bits of coal.
3. Fine and dry coal in small pieces, usually anthracite.
   • 1917, William Henry Fowler, The Mechanical Engineer:

     The great bulk of the coal burnt under our boilers is duff of a very small size, and a mixed coal of duff, peas, and small nuts.

4. (British) A mixture of coal and rock.
5. (slang) The bits left in the bottom of the bag after the booty has been consumed, like crumbs.
6. Something spurious or fake; a counterfeit; a worthless thing; a defective thing.

   Synonyms: duffer

7. (baseball, slang) An error. [1800s]

duff (comparative duffer, superlative duffest)

1. (UK) Worthless; not working properly, defective.

   Why do I always get a shopping trolley with duff wheels?

   • 1996, Catherine Merriman, State of Desire‎^{[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=0xVbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22duffest%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&dq=%22duffest%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=k19HT8_ADujEmQXxj6muDg&redir_esc=y]}, page 155:

     From its surface, he insisted, plain food became ambrosia, water nectar, and the duffest dope would blow your mind.

   • 2009, Christopher Fowler, Paperboy‎^{[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=YxaizaIitbQC&pg=PA225&dq=%22duffest%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=k19HT8_ADujEmQXxj6muDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22duffest%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false]}, page 225:

     All the other parts were played by a gallery of Dickensian character actors, including Thorley Walters, Francis Matthews and, yes, Michael Ripper, who lent gravitas to the duffest dialogue lines.

• (defective) bum (US)

• French: nul
• Italian: sgangherato
• Russian: никудышный

duff (plural duffs)

1. (US, slang) The buttocks.

• Italian: sedere, chiappe, deretano
• Portuguese: bumbum

Originally thieves' slang; probably a back-formation from duffer.

duff (duffs, present participle duffing; simple past and past participle duffed)

1. (slang, obsolete) To disguise something to make it look new.
2. (Australia) To alter the branding of stolen cattle; to steal cattle.
3. (US, golf) To hit the ground behind the ball.

• duffer

duff (plural duffs)

1. Alternative form of daf type of drum

• IPA: /dʌf/

duff (plural duffs)

1. (slang, derogatory) Acronym of dumb/designated ugly fat friend an attractive woman's less attractive friend

From the Irish - and Scottish Gaelic - surname, from dubh ("dark").

• IPA: /dʌf/

1. (countable) Surname.
2. A placename
   1. A village in Saskatchewan, Canada.
   2. An unincorporated community in Indiana, USA.
   3. An unincorporated community in Nebraska, USA.
   4. An unincorporated community in Tennessee, USA.
3. (countable) A male given name