1623 C. Butler Feminine Monarchie (rev. ed.) v. sig. L4^v This is not to be done..lest some of the Bees take a miffe, and goe home againe.

1726 J. Arbuthnot Let. 8 Nov. in J. Swift Lett. (1766) II. 324 I gave your service to Lady Harvey. She is in a little sort of a miff about a ballad, that was wrote on her.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones I. iii. vi. 194 When a little Quarrel, or Miff, as it is vulgarly called, arose between them. View more context for this quotation

1783 L. Goddard Jrnl. 10 Sept. in E. M. Bell Hanwood Papers (1930) iii. 49 One lady that I got for a partner in a miff said she was sure of losing the rubber.

1791 G. Washington Let. 18 Dec. in Papers (2000) Presidential Ser. IX. 293 If..he should take miff and leave the business, I have no scruple in declaring..that I do not know where another is to be found.

1821 E. Nathan Langreath I. 136 I should take miff every time I come into your house.

1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan I. 374 If she should git another miff, we'd never be able to appease her.

1844 N. P. Willis Lady Jane ii. 716 Like ladies in a miff who won't explain!

1854 T. De Quincey On War in Select. Grave & Gay IV. 270 We have a French anecdote..which ascribes one bloody war to the accident of a little ‘miff’ arising between the king and his minister upon some such trifle as [etc.].

1882 T. B. Aldrich Poems 128 I see! I've put you in a miff.

1894 T. Hardy Life's Little Ironies 232 'Twill cause 'em to kick up a bit of a miff, for certain.

1926 Public Opinion 9 July 39/1 Mrs Huff is up the miff tree On a seat fixed good and firm; And she'd like to tell the preacher A few things to make him squirm.

1797 S. T. Coleridge Sonn. to Simplicity But should a friend and I Grow cool and miff, O! I am very sad!

1802 W. Taylor Let. 6 Feb. in J. W. Robberds Mem. W. Taylor (1843) I. 447 You are right about Burnett, but being miff with him myself, I would not plead against him in the least particular.

1797 A. Barnard Let. 10 Aug. in S. Afr. a Cent. Ago (1901) iii. 73 We wish to have no quarrels and no miffs. They had wished to miff with us, but we are so civil,..they cannot make it out.

1802 S. J. Pratt Poor (ed. 2) ii. 44 Each day's luxury:..the luscious shrub, to take of punch a tiff, When farmer-gentleman and lady miff; For who could deem that so polite a pair, Without some acid, all their sweets could bear? Or who could think a couple so well-bred, Without some polish'd strife at board or bed?

a1862 F. O'Brien Poems & Stories (1881) 127 Amanda came over her father with new arts To grant her a credit at amiable Stewart's, And sulked till he'd promised that, if she 'd not miff any, He'd give her the bracelet she wanted from Tiffany.

1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. Miff, to take offence hastily. ‘'E miffed at it direc'ly.’

1983 L. A. Murray People's Otherworld 55 Starting a dog, in the past-midnight suburbs, for a laugh, Barking for a lark, or to nark and miff, being tough Or dumbly meditative, starting gruff, sparking one dog off Almost companionably, you work him up.

a1992 F. T. Prince Coll. Poems (1993) 288 To say that Instead of the trite Opposite, Should warn Of wit Or mischief, To amuse or miff.

1811 C. Mathews Let. Dec. in A. Mathews Mem. C. Mathews (1838) II. viii. 177 You give me much gratification by your explanation of the word that miffed me.

1881 Cent. Mag. Dec. 320/1 The soft salute doth miff our fair.

1939 Fortune Nov. 94/1 The newspaper correspondents..were miffed by the ease with which the broadcasters got to the microphones with the cream of the news crop.

1990 N.Y. Woman Nov. 70/1 The change in the restaurant's complexion miffs some neighborhood regulars.

1994 Denver Post 6 Feb. a5/1 But in favoring subsidies for some of the industries his department regulates, Pen̂a has miffed some in the administration.

1883 Notes & Queries 6 Oct. 267/2 A curious word came under my notice of late with regard to a flower losing its strength and beauty. I was speaking to a Surrey gardener about some fading plants, and he remarked that they were ‘miffing off’.

1895 H. N. Ellacombe In Glouc. Garden xviii. 209 Another alpine which is very apt to ‘miff off’ if grown in the open border.

1907 R. J. Farrer My Rock-garden v. 71 Here it flowers once, then it miffs off without any apparent reason.

1960 F. C. Stern Chalk Garden vii. 73 We have sometimes been successful with it [sc. a peony], but it miffs off for no apparent reason.

1999 Independent 2 Jan. ii. 11/5 They are all easy, cheerful flowers and you need a few stalwarts you can depend on while traitorous novelties are miffing off all round you.