1617 R. Brathwait Smoaking Age in tr. ‘B. Multibibus’ Solemne Ioviall Disputation sig. G4v Our hopefull Gentrie; whose desire was rather to be matriculated in the exquisite taking of a Pipe, than in the tossing of a Pike; in a quiffe and a quaffe, than shaking of a staffe.

1830 R. Sharp Diary 20 Jan. (1997) 243 I was at Old Willy's one night smoking a pipe..when I blew a quiff up the Cat's nose.

1831 J. M. Galloway Poems 27 Thou'st warm'd my nose at mony a speil; Ae quiff o' thee [sc. a pipe] Has made me play wi' care and skill.

1840 Southern Literary Messenger 6 447/2 A quiff would now and again ascend and hang like a tropical cloud over the hemisphere of his cranium.

1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby Quiff, a whiff, a puff of smoke, an exhalation. ‘I got a quiff on 't,’ caught the scent.

1889 Brighouse News 14 Sept. 3/7 Hah nivver heeard a quift on't.

1968 in Sc. National Dict. (at cited word) A puff, a short smoke of a pipe (Ork. 1967).

1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 236/1 Quiff,..Theer wus a sudden quiff o' floor (flour)..as the sack begun to burst.

1912 J. Masefield Dauber v. 268 She came within two shakes of turning top, Or stripping all her shroud-screws, that first quiff.

1988 G. Lamb Orkney Wordbk. Quiff, a puff of wind etc.

1881 Advertiser Notes & Queries I. 77/2 Quiff. What is the origin of this word, so often used in the sentence, ‘I'll teach thee a quiff’, meaning something clever. It is often heard in Cheshire.

1890 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang II. 164 Quiff..(Tailors), a word used in expressing an idea that a satisfactory result may be obtained by other than strictly recognised rules or principles.

1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 223 Quiff, any specially ingenious smart, tricky, or novel or improvised way of doing anything. (Navy). In the Army used of any drill method peculiar to a battalion, and not usually done in others. Where the wording of the Drill Book is vague, units often read different meanings into the phraseology and invent their own ‘Quiffs’.

1925 N. Lucas Autobiogr. Crook v. 72 I'll give you one quiff, right now, because I like your face and your nerve. Never touch the dope, it's hell—and worse than that.

1928 Weekly Disp. 13 May 10/4 Suddenly a faint grey blur on the horizon in the expected direction. The seaman blinks his eyes—an old quiff which prevents many a false alarm—and then makes his report.

1933 J. Masefield Bird of Dawning 107 It was young Mr. Abbott worked that quiff on you, sir.

1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 166 Quiff, a trick or artifice that makes a job easier.

1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. 266/2 Quiff, a trick; a dodge.

1890 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang II. 164 Quiff (military), the small curl on a soldier's temple just showing under his glengarry or forage cap.

1908 Daily Chron. 19 Mar. 4/4 He wears a quif of hair soaped down on his forehead in a slimy arc that nearly touches his eyebrows.

1925 H. G. Wells Christina Alberta's Father ii. iii. 224 He had..highly oiled and entirely subjugated sandy hair with an army ‘quif’ on the forehead.

1965 M. Bradbury Stepping Westward ii. 108 He could see the quiffs of his three cabin~mates as they moved round getting dressed.

1969 H. E. Bates Vanished World iii. 38 There were..plenty of men who were great dandies in that generation [his grandfather's]—the moustache-waxers, the quiff-plasterers, [etc.].

1976 Times 8 Mar. 6/3 Mr Reagan..is certainly the best turned out candidate. The 1950s quiff is immaculate.

1993 E. Freud in M. Bradbury & A. Motion New Writing 2 46 [He] dressed like a rockabilly in a white T-shirt and brothel creepers and wore his hair greased into a quiff.

2001 C. Hope Heaven Forbid xvii. 155 Why d'you wear your hair in a quiff? Quiffs are for girls.

1923 G. Watson Roxburghshire Word-bk. 244 Queef,..an engaging girl.

1931 Amer. Speech 6 440 Quiff, a cheap prostitute.

1949 J. O'Hara Rage to Live i. iii. 193 How would I get an African toothache when the closest I been to a quiff in over a month is sitting next to one?

1967 T. Berger Killing Time iii. 33 Alloway reassumed his old pursuit of married quiff.

1973 L. Snelling Heresy i. i. 6 If only there was some other quiff about I might be able to deal with her indifference.

1982 R. Kahn Seventh Game ii. 22 ‘The Indian won't be looking at your wife's quiff no more.’... ‘Quiff?’ Clint Dewey said. ‘That's a word English people use for cunt’, Jerry said. ‘I learned it when I was in the Army.’

1990 D. Richards Evening Snow will bring Such Peace i. 8 She got to a hundred and seventy dollars and had to start all over. I yelled, ‘Yer at 170—you dumb quiff—count!’

1940 R. Lehmann in Folios of New Writing Spring 101 There was one [sailor] in particular, large, with a genial, knobby raw-beef face and a flaxen curl quiffed up in the forefront of his sailor cap.

1977 West Briton 25 Aug. 5/8 They turned up in three-quarter length jackets, drainpipe trousers and shoelace ties. Their hair was quiffed and oiled.

1987 Hair Autumn 16/2 Longer lengths in the front have been quiffed with gel to stay in place.

2006 Independent (Nexis) 27 Sept. 32 His hair is as carefully dyed, quiffed, teased and spiked as that of any metrosexual.

1950 S. Desmond Nathaniel ii. 15 With the quiffed hair and martial moustache.

2004 Radio Times 19 June (Midlands ed.) 27/2 Aside from a few concerts, he's kept his quiffed head below the parapet.