Skip to content
OneKitly

cuff

nounverbnounverbverbnounnouncommon in dialogue

  • United States//kʌf//
  • Australia//kɐf//
  • //kʊf//

The end of a shirt sleeve that covers the wrist.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteGlove; mitten

  2. 2

    The end of a shirt sleeve that covers the wrist.

  3. 3

    The end of a pants leg when folded up.

  4. 4

    A surgical procedure in which parts of the body that were not previously connected are stitched together.

Etymology

From Middle English cuffe, coffe (“glove, mitten”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old English cuffie (“hood, cap”), from Medieval Latin cofia, cofea, cuffa, cuphia (“helmet, headdress, hood, cap”), from Frankish *kuf(f)ja (“headdress”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuffju, from Proto-Germanic *kupjō (“cap”). Cognate with Middle High German kupfe (“cap”).

verb

  1. 1

    To furnish with cuffs.

noun

  1. 1

    informalA handcuff.

Etymology

Clipping of handcuff.

verb

  1. 1

    To handcuff.

  2. 2

    slangTo enter into a committed romantic relationship with (someone).

    cuffing season

    This fr how it be, never cuffing another Latina woman from New York ever again💀

    If your promiscuous, men who know females just date around could take advantage of that, plus a lot wouldn't want to cuff a female they know isn't doing pure things.

    After my last relationship I was so amped to be happy and single, but it's funny how when you are that it's as if potential SOs gravitate even more. It wasn't too long of that before I naturally got cuffed and I'm happy in a relationship but got damn I do wish I had more time happy and single

verb

  1. 1

    To hit, as a reproach, particularly with the open palm to the head; to slap.

    I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again.

    [They] with their quills did all the hurt they could, / And cuff'd the tender chickens from their food.

  2. 2

    To fight; to scuffle; to box.

    While the peers cuff to make the rabble sport.

  3. 3

    To buffet.

    cuffed by the gale

Etymology

1520, “to hit”, apparently of North Germanic origin, from Norwegian kuffa (“to push, shove”) or Swedish kuffa (“to knock, thrust, strike”), from the Proto-Germanic base *skuf- (skuƀ), from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-, see also Lithuanian skùbti (“to hurry”), Polish skubać (“to pluck”), Albanian humb (“to lose”). Germanic cognates include Low German kuffen (“to box the ears”), German kuffen (“to thrash”). More at scuff, shove, scuffle.

noun

  1. 1

    A blow, especially with the open hand; a box; a slap.

    The Sarazin sore daunted with the buffe / Snatcheth his sword, and fiercely to him flies; / Who well it wards, and quyteth cuff with cuff:

    many a bitter kick and cuff

noun

  1. 1

    The scruff of the neck.

Forms

plural
cuffs
past tense
cuffed
past participle
cuffed
present participle
cuffing
third person singular
cuffs
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).