gaffn.1
/ɡaf/, U.S. /ɡæf/ 1.
a. An iron hook; a staff or stick armed with this. Now only dialect.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > tool > types of tools generally > [noun] > hooked
awelOE
crookc1290
gaffa1300
kroket1426
crotchetc1430
cromec1440
buttonhook1788
claw1815
box hook1852
hook1869
window pole1888
a1300 Sat. People Kildare iv, in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 153 Hail, seint dominik with þi lang staffe hit is at þe ouir end crokid as a gaffe.
1867 W. F. Rock Jim an' Nell lxxiv. 22 A guidestrap, hayvor seed, A gaff, dree picks vrom Varmer Reed.
1867 W. F. Rock Jim an' Nell Gloss. 47 Gaff, an instrument with long handle, used to pull furze out of the furze-rick.
b. spec. A barbed fishing spear; also, a stick armed with an iron hook for landing large fish, esp. salmon. Phrase, to bring (a hooked fish) to gaff.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > spear > [noun]
pricka1350
garfanglec1440
wawsper1472
spear1551
waster1580
fizgig1589
visgee1593
fish-spear1611
glaive1640
fish-giga1642
gaff1656
gig1705
lance1728
sticker1772
graina1818
picaroon1837
pickpole1837
fishing-spear1840
lily-iron1852
gambeering iron1883
mackerel gaff1883
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > other fishing equipment > [noun] > prongs or hooks for landing fish
grab-hook1608
gaff1656
weir-hook1688
pew1765
click-hookc1810
picaroon1837
gaff-hook1844
pew-gaffa1884
fish-gaff1887
snigger1901
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > type or method of fishing > [verb (transitive)] > bring to bank
landa1609
play1740
work1825
bank1837
creel1844
grass1856
to bring (a hooked fish) to gaff1886
to play along1921
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Gaffe, an iron hook where~with Seamen pull great Fishes into their ships.
1706 in Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.)
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VI. 394 They began to knock it [sc. a turtle] on the head with their gaffs.
1844 W. H. Maxwell Wanderings in Highlands & Islands II. App. 331 The poacher, with a gaff and torch, selects some gravelly ford.
1885 W. Black White Heather iii Ronald had got him transfixed on the gaff and landed.
1886 Q. Rev. Oct. 163 351 When a fish is beat and is being brought to gaff, much caution is necessary.
2. Nautical. ‘A spar used in ships to extend the heads of fore-and-aft sails which are not set on stays’ (Adm. Smyth).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > spar > [noun] > spars used to extend head of sail
sprityard1485
sprit1536
gaff1769
sliding-gunter1867
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine at Vessel In the schooner both the mainsail and foresail are extended by a boom and gaff.
1796 Huddart in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 87 32 The angle made by the gaff and mast.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast ix. 22 We..pulled for a light, which, as we came up, we found had been run up to our trysail gaff.
1893 H. M. Doughty Our Wherry in Wendish Lands Introd. 15 One sail with very high peak and an enormous gaff.
3.
a. A steel spur for a fighting cock: = gablock n. 1 and gaffle n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > fighting between animals > [noun] > cock-fighting > spur
gablocksa1672
gaff1688
spur1688
gavelock1698
gafflet1714
gaffle1755
sickle-
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 252/2 Gablocks are Spurs made of Iron, or Brass, or Silver and are fixed on the Legs of such Cocks as want their natural Spurs, some call them Gaffs.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Gaff, an artificial Spur for a Cock.
1893 in J. S. Farmer Slang
b. The spike of a spur.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > [noun] > art of horse-riding > use of hands and legs > using spurs > rowel or spike of spur
rowelc1425
mullet1494
spur-rowel1611
gaff1808
1808 Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (1895) iii. iv. 788 The dragoons wear..a sort of jack-boot.. to which are fastened, by a rivet, the spurs, the gaffs of which are sometimes near an inch in length.
Categories »
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. (In sense 1.)
gaff-man n. (also gaffs-man)
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fisher > [noun] > using spear
spear-fisher1449
spear-fisherman1449
striker1697
spearman1815
gaff-man1875
grainer1894
spear-gunner1951
1875 F. Francis in Encycl. Brit. II. 39/2 The gaffsman..drags it out of the water to the land.
1885 Athenæum 14 Mar. 337/3 A Norwegian gaff-man's feelings are not very acute.
gaff-net n.
ΚΠ
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Gaff-net, a peculiar net for fishing.
gaff-point n.
ΚΠ
1845 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 288 His armour of scales defied the gaff-point.
b. (In sense 2.)
gaff-end n.
ΚΠ
1851 Voy. Mauritius i. 10 Up ran certain bits of red and blue and yellow bunting to her gaff-end.
gaff-jaw n.
ΚΠ
1894 Westm. Gaz. 25 July 7/2 Vigilant's gaff-jaws broke, and just as Britannia was catching up, her spinnaker went wrong.
gaff-sail n.
ΚΠ
1886 J. M. Caulfeild Seamanship Notes 2 In setting a gaff-sail..keep the throat ahead of peak.
1891 Daily News 9 Sept. 3/3 The veteran..won the match for sprit and gaff sail boats by a long way ahead.
c.
gaff-rigged adj.
ΚΠ
1933 ‘L. Luard’ All Hands 256 A gaff-rigged ketch.
1961 Times 5 Aug. 7/7 They made the crossing in a gaff-rigged yawl.
C2. Also gaff-topsail n.
gaff-hook n. = sense 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > other fishing equipment > [noun] > prongs or hooks for landing fish
grab-hook1608
gaff1656
weir-hook1688
pew1765
click-hookc1810
picaroon1837
gaff-hook1844
pew-gaffa1884
fish-gaff1887
snigger1901
1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & Widows I. xi. 232 Boots seized the gaff-hook..and was going to plunge it deep in the pike's jaws.
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics 17 They had neither..gaff-hook, nor landing-net.
gaff-setter n. a boat-hook.
gaff-string n. (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > ropes or chains other than rigging or cable > [noun] > other ropes used on ships
stud1336
studrope1337
start rope1353
wartake14..
warsheet1420
ridge rope1769
heel rope1777
lizard1794
jackstay1834
triatic stay1841
surf line1848
gaff-string1861
head rope1867
jackstay1954
jackline1976
twist line-
1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) III. 270/1 The staffsman then fastens the staff to the lighter by means of the gaff-string or rope attached to the side of the vessel.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
gaffn.2
/ɡaf/, U.S. /ɡæf/ slang.
1.
a. ? Vociferation, outcry.
ΚΠ
1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 267 Stifle e'en a bull-dog's gaff.
b. Humbug, ‘stuff and nonsense’.
ΚΠ
1877 W. H. Thomson Five Years' Penal Servitude iv. 151 I also saw that Jemmy's blowing up of me was all ‘gaff’.
2. Phrase. to blow the gaff: (figurative) to let out a secret; to reveal a plot, or give convicting evidence.
ΚΠ
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 156 Blow the gaff.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple III. v. 68 I wasn't going to blow the gaff, so I told him, as a great secret, that we got it [sc. the gun] up with a kite.
1877 W. H. Thomson Five Years' Penal Servitude ii. 122 The prisoner..quietly bides his time till the chief warder comes round, then asks to speak to him, and ‘blows the gaff’.
3. to stand the gaff, to receive severe treatment, criticism, etc. Similarly to give (also take, etc.,) the gaff. U.S.
ΚΠ
1896 G. Ade Artie xii. 111 If he gets the gaff he'll be flat on his back.
1899 A. Thomas Arizona 124 Will they stand the gaff? Will they set sixty hours in the saddle..?
1903 McClure's Mag. Oct. 563 ‘Good,’ they cheer, when you find fault; ‘give us the gaff. We deserve it and it does us good.’
1910 W. M. Raine Bucky O'Connor 244 Neil has got to stand the gaff for what he's done.
1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xviii. 194 Just because he shuts his mouth and stands the gaff.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
gaffn.3
/ɡaf/, U.S. /ɡæf/ Obsolete exc. dialect.
= gaffer n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > man > [noun] > as a form of address
lordOE
wye1340
gentleman1534
old fellow1567
gaff1573
godhood1586
gaffer1590
dad1605
daddy1681
hearty1735
cock-of-wax1790
governor1819
bub1839
smarty1847
doc1870
guy1876
Sunny Jim1903
big guy1910
chief1927
daddy-o1944
pops1944
tosh1954
Sonny Jim1960
ese1961
majita1963
G1990
mi'jito1990
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 24v Myxe well (old gaffe) horse corne with chaffe.
1877 in E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Gaff.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
gaffn.4
/ɡaf/, U.S. /ɡæf/ slang.
1. A fair.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > large or public event > [noun] > fair
fair?a1300
kermis1577
playa1586
gaff1753
market fair1776
street fair1854
1753 Discov. J. Poulter (ed. 2) 27 The first Thing they do at a Gaff, is to look for a Room clear of Company.
1811 Lexicon Balatronicum (at cited word) The drop coves maced the joskins at the Gaff; the ring-droppers cheated the countryman at the fair.
1821 Life D. Haggart 22 We stopped at this place two days, waiting to attend the Gaff.
2. Any public place of amusement. Hence the term has passed into the literary vocabulary as the name for the low class of theatre or music-hall to which it is most frequently applied by slang speakers. Also penny-gaff.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > [noun] > other types of theatre
little theatre1569
private house1604
private playhouse1609
amphitheatre1611
private theatre1633
droll-house1705
summer theatre1761
show shop1772
national theatre1816
minor1821
legitimate1826
patent house1827
patent theatre1836
showboat1839
music theatre1849
penny-gaff1856
saloon theatre1864
leg shop1871
people's theatre1873
nickelodeon1888
repertory theatre1891
studio theatre1891
legit1897
blood-tub1906
rep1906
small-timer1910
grind house1923
theatrette1927
indie1928
vaude1933
straw hat1935
theatre-in-the-round1948
straw-hatter1949
bughouse1952
theatre-restaurant1958
dinner theatre1959
theatre club1961
black box1971
pub theatre1971
performance space1972
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. (at cited word) Any public place of amusement is liable to be called the gaff, when spoken of in flash company.
1856 Chambers's Jrnl. 11 Oct. 228/1 Would you root out the Penny Gaff, and compel the penny-paying public..to find amusement elsewhere?
1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) III. 144/2 When a professional goes to a gaff to get an engagement, they in general inquires whether he is a good ballet performer.
1863 Q. Rev. July 114 264 He knows them all..from the chief opera-house..to the humblest gaffs (as we believe they would be called in London).
1864 Sat. Rev. 30 Apr. 516 A piece of histrionics rather below the mark of a penny gaff.
1887 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 400 I had always wanted to see a Penny Gaff since I first read my Dickens.
3.
a. A house, shop, or other building.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > [noun]
bottleeOE
houseeOE
boldOE
building1297
builda1387
edificec1386
mansion1389
bigginga1400
housinga1400
edification1432
edifying1432
fabric1483
edify1555
structure1560
erection1609
framec1639
bastiment1679
drum1846
dump1899
gaff1932
1932 G. S. Moncrieff Café Bar viii. 73 He went back to his gaff and broke into the gas meter.
1936 ‘J. Curtis’ Gilt Kid ii. 20 I had it off last week.., not a big job, just a little snout gaff.
1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock iii. iii. 125 The barred and battlemented Salvation Army gaff.
1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock v. i. 188 It's the best road-house this side of London... You can't pick 'em [sc. girls] up in this gaff.
1961 J. Maclaren-Ross Doomsday Bk. i. viii. 86 I was keeping an eye on the gaff—seen you going in.
1971 Fremdsprachen 15 63 Two new words..for a flat or dwelling are ‘pad’ and ‘gaff’.
b. spec. A brothel; a prostitute's room.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > brothel
houseOE
bordelc1300
whorehousec1330
stew1362
bordel housec1384
stewc1384
stivec1386
stew-house1436
bordelryc1450
brothel house1486
shop?1515
bains1541
common house1545
bawdy-house1552
hothouse1556
bordello1581
brothela1591
trugging house1591
trugging place1591
nunnery1593
vaulting-house1596
leaping house1598
Pickt-hatch1598
garden house1606
vaulting-school1606
flesh-shambles1608
whore-sty1621
bagnioa1640
public house1640
harlot-house1641
warrena1649
academy1650
call house1680
coney burrow1691
case1699
nanny-house1699
house of ill reputea1726
smuggling-ken1725
kip1766
Corinth1785
disorderly house1809
flash-house1816
dress house1823
nanny-shop1825
house of tolerance1842
whore shop1843
drum1846
introducing house1846
khazi1846
fast house1848
harlotry1849
maison de tolérance1852
knocking-shop1860
lupanar1864
assignation house1870
parlour house1871
hook shop1889
sporting house1894
meat house1896
massage parlour1906
case house1912
massage establishment1921
moll-shop1923
camp1925
notch house1926
creep joint1928
slaughterhouse1928
maison de convenance1930
cat-house1931
Bovril1936
maison close1939
joy-house1940
rib joint1940
gaff1947
maison de passe1960
rap parlour1973
1947 New Statesman 10 May 330/3 In most cases the girls do not live where they work (they call this their ‘gaff’).
1959 Streetwalker i. 14 Take a cab for the five minutes drive back to your gaff, or flat.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
gaffv.1
/ɡaf/, U.S. /ɡæf/ transitive. To seize or strike (a fish) with a gaff; also, to draw out with a gaff.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > type or method of fishing > [verb (transitive)] > catch fish with spear
poach1602
dart1624
peg1735
spear1755
harpoon1774
gig1816
spritsail-yard1833
gaff1844
grain1892
spear-fish1962
1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & Widows I. xi. 232 I bid him..slack his hand the moment I had gaffed him [ the pike].
1851 H. Newland Erne 352 I..gaffed him out of the great boiling turnhole below.
1867 B. Osborne Speech House of Commons 8 Apr. The hon. member for Lincolnshire, though a solitary fish, rose to the occasion, and he was safely gaffed and landed.
1882 Garden 11 Feb. 101/1 The Japanese were gaffing salmon.
Derivatives
ˈgaffing n. also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > type or method of fishing > [noun] > spearing
spear-fishing1601
shoaling1792
weequashing1792
gaffing1830
1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. iii. 171 Spearing, gaffing, and harpooning, are amongst the most obvious methods.
1886 Fishing 18 Sept. 417 He hooked a large grilse, but lost him in gaffing.
1895 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 288 Harry brought him within gaffing distance.
ˈgaffer n. one who gaffs fish. (In some modern dictionaries.)
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
gaffv.2
/ɡaf/, U.S. /ɡæf/ 1. intransitive. To gamble, esp. to ‘toss up’. slang.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > play games of chance [verb (intransitive)]
play1340
game1529
nick1611
to cast a chancea1628
to go even or odd1658
gamble1757
gaff1819
buck1849
spiel1859
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 176 Gaff, to gamble with cards, dice, &c., or to toss up.
1828 ‘J. Bee’ Living Picture London 243 Though any gentleman would gaff for a pound, there or any where else.
1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms I. iii. 32 Catch him gaffing!—no, not for a sixpence.
2. transitive. To deceive or trick; to make (a game or device) crooked or dishonest. Originally U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > treat fraudulently, cheat [verb (transitive)]
deceivec1330
defraud1362
falsec1374
abuse?a1439
fraud1563
visure1570
cozen1583
coney-catch1592
to fetch in1592
cheat1597
sell1607
mountebanka1616
dabc1616
nigglea1625
to put it on1625
shuffle1627
cuckold1644
to put a cheat on1649
tonya1652
fourbe1654
imposturea1659
impose1662
slur1664
knap1665
to pass upon (also on)1673
snub1694
ferret1699
nab1706
shool1745
humbug1750
gag1777
gudgeon1787
kid1811
bronze1817
honeyfuggle1829
Yankee1837
middle1863
fuck1866
fake1867
skunk1867
dead-beat1888
gold-brick1893
slicker1897
screw1900
to play it1901
to do in1906
game1907
gaff1934
scalp1939
sucker1939
sheg1943
swizz1961
butt-fuck1979
1934 J. Proskauer Suckers All 15 He was..putting in slot machines for a racketeer, and ‘gaffing’ them..to increase the house percentage.
1934 J. Proskauer Suckers All v. 77 There was a way of gaffing every game.
1935 N. Ersine Underworld & Prison Slang 39 Gaff, to cheat.
1963 New Scientist 6 June 553 Roulette wheels can of course be crookedly fixed (‘gaffed’ is the trade term).
1965 H. Gold Man who was not with It (new ed.) xv. 135 I want to play you straight fifty-fifty, not gaff you for fifty-fifty.
Derivatives
ˈgaffer n. one who ‘gaffs’ or ‘tosses up’.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > two up, etc. > [noun] > player
gaffer1828
spinner1911
ringie1917
1828 ‘J. Bee’ Living Picture London 241 If the person calling for ‘man’ or ‘woman’, is not right or wrong at five pieces, neither of the gaffers win or lose, but go again.
ˈgaffing n.
ΚΠ
1828 ‘J. Bee’ Living Picture London 241 I know of but one such public-house where gaffing is carried on to any amount.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
gaffv.3
/ɡaf/, U.S. /ɡæf/ Theatre.
Categories »
intransitive. ‘To play in a gaff’ (Farmer).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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