| 释义 |
▪ I. duffer, n.1 slang.|ˈdʌfə(r)|
[Connected with duff v.1 From the date of the words and senses, it may be inferred that duffer in senses 1 and 2 (the relative priority of which is uncertain) is the starting-point in Eng.; that duff v.1 is a back-formation from this, to express the action of the duffer (in a somewhat later application), and that sense 3 of the n. is, in turn, an agent-noun from the vb. Cf. also duffing ppl. a., and duffer n.2]
I.
1. One who sells trashy goods as valuable, upon false pretences, e.g. pretending that they are smuggled or stolen, and offered as bargains.
1756W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans III. 61 These two fellows.. are after being duffers, or some such thieves. 1756Fielding in Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 565 Another set of gamblers..call'd duffers..invite you to go down some alley, and buy some cheap India handkerchiefs. 1781R. King Mod. Lond. Spy 65 One of the people called Duffers, who pretend to sell smuggled goods, such as silk handkerchiefs, and stockings. 1832Examiner 268/1 On being searched, a complete stock-in-trade of a duffer was found upon him. His hat was crammed with rings, brooches, seals, &c...and a couple of watches, apparently of immense value..but got up in reality for the purposes of fraud. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxvii. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 324 Duffers, who vend pretended smuggled goods..also, the sellers of sham sovereigns and sham gold rings for wagers.
2. A pedlar or hawker: see quots.
[1763Sir S. T. Janssen Smuggling laid open 19 These Duffers supply the Hawkers, who carry it about the Town, and sell it to the Consumers.] 1795Fortn. Ramble 22 You have been dealing with a duffer..they carry none but the worst of wares, and charge three times the value of them. 1847–78Halliwell, Duffer, a pedlar; applied exclusively to one who sells women's clothes. South. 1884S. Dowell Hist. Taxation III. i. i. iii. 38 A class of persons termed ‘duffers’, ‘packmen’, or ‘Scotchmen’, and sometimes ‘tallymen’, traders who go rounds with samples of goods, and take orders for goods afterwards to be delivered..These duffers were numerous in Cornwall.
II.
3. [f. duff v.1 1, 2.] a. One who ‘fakes up’ sham articles. b. (Australia) One who ‘duffs’ cattle.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 70 The ‘Duffer’ in English birds disguises them so that they shall look like foreigners. 1889Boldrewood Robbery under Arms (1890) 32 No cattle-duffer in the colonies could have had a better pair of mates. 1890― Col. Reformer xxv. 352 What's a little money..if your children grow up duffers and planters?
▪ II. ˈduffer, n.2 colloq. and slang.
[The evident association of the word with duffing ppl. a., ‘a duffer’ being = ‘a duffing fellow’, ‘a duffing coin or article’, appears to connect the word with duff v.1 It is possible, though our quots. do not show it, that the application to things, e.g. to a counterfeit or base coin, is the earlier, and that the term was thence transferred to a man who is similarly ‘no good’. Less probable, though not out of the question, are the suggestions that a duffer is a man of duff or dough, or ‘spongy substance’ (see duff n.1, n.2), or that the word is the same as Sc. duffar, duffart ‘a blunt stupid person’, dofart, doofart, dowfart, ‘a dull heavy-headed inactive fellow’ (Jamieson).]
1. colloq.
a. A person who proves to be without practical ability or capacity; one who is incapable, inefficient, or useless in his business or occupation; the reverse of an adept or competent person. Also more generally, a stupid or foolish person.
1842Ld. Houghton Let. in Wemyss Reid Life (1891) I. 284, I do not think him the mere duffer that most people make him out. a1845Hood (O.), ‘Duffers’ (if I may use a slang term which has now become classical, and which has no exact equivalent in English proper) are generally methodical and old. 1873Black Pr. Thule xxv. (D.), ‘Do you get {pstlg}800 for a small picture?’..‘Well, no’..‘but then I am a duffer’. 1887M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike xvii, I was always a duffer at dancing. 1889J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat 171 ‘Is it all right?’..‘Lovely..You are duffers not to come in’. 1891A. Lang Angling Sketches 8 Next to being an expert, it is well to be a contented duffer.
b. duffer's (or duffers') fortnight, a fortnight of the angling season during which trout are supposed to be caught easily.
1927Observer 19 June 27/4 That period of imbecility the so-called ‘duffer's fortnight’. 1928Daily Express 28 May 4/5 This annual festival of the Mayfly inaugurates the ‘Duffers' Fortnight’.
2. slang. A counterfeit coin or article; any article that is ‘no good’. Cf. duff v.1 1.
1875Jevons Money xxi. 289 The cheques, bills [etc.] are regarded by thieves as ‘duffer’, with which they dare not meddle. 1876World V. No. 115. 19 He had purchased a veritable ‘duffer’ and could get no redress. 1881Standard 2 Sept. 5/3 The [picture] gallery of a wealthy but uncritical collector came to the hammer, when..nine-tenths of it were adjudged to consist of ‘duffers’. 1889Answers 29 June 66/1 (Farmer) If the note is a genuine one the water-mark will then stand out plainly. If a duffer it will almost disappear.
3. Australian and N.Z. Mining. A claim or mine which proves unproductive. Also attrib.
1861T. McCombie Austral. Sk. 193 It was a terrible duffer anyhow, every ounce of gold got from it cost {pstlg}20 I'll swear. 1863V. Pyke in App. to Jrnls. House of Reps. N.Z. D vi. 3 The place was rushed by about 500 men, who speedily deserted it, and declared the Waitahuna to be a ‘duffer’. 1864Rogers New Rush ii. 33 Reposing here, the son of quartz and clay Forgets the duffer he has sunk to day. 1869R. Waite Narr. Disc. West Coast Goldfields 15 Those first arrivals chose to call the expedition a duffer rush. 1890Melbourne Argus 9 Aug. 4/6 We struck the reef at Christmas, but it was a duffer. a1928D. McK. Wright in Currie Centennial Treasury Otago Verse 54 We had sunk a hundred holes that was duffers.
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈdufferdom, ˈdufferism, the style, character, or condition of a duffer.
1893Field 10 June 832/1 There is no wilful misconduct, but only hopeless dufferism. 1895Tablet 20 July 96 Aspirations to escape from dufferdom.
▪ III. ˈduffer, v. Australian and N.Z. Mining.
[f. duffer n.2 3.]
intr. Of a mine: To prove a ‘duffer’, become unproductive or exhaustive, give out. Also fig.
1885H. Finch-Hatton Advance Australia 279 The lode had ‘duffered out’, and..it was useless to continue working. 1890Boldrewood Miner's Right vi. 58 ‘So you're duffered out again, Harry!’ she said. 1894C. J. O'Regan Voices of Wave & Tree 10 Life's claim is almost duffered. 1897D. McK. Wright Station Ballads 111 A good bit of ground duffers out.
▪ IV. duffer
variant of doffer. |