Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A public place of entertainment, especially a cheap or disreputable music hall or theater.
- noun Slang A house, building, or apartment, especially where one resides.
- noun A large iron hook attached to a pole or handle and used to land large fish.
- noun Nautical A spar attached to the mast and used to extend the upper edge of a fore-and-aft sail.
- noun A sharp metal spur or spike fastened to the leg of a gamecock.
- noun A climbing hook used by telephone and electric line workers.
- noun Slang A trick or gimmick, especially one used in a swindle or to rig a game.
- noun Slang Harshness of treatment; abuse.
- transitive verb To hook or land (a fish) using a gaff.
- transitive verb To equip (a gamecock) with a gaff.
- transitive verb To take in or defraud; swindle.
- transitive verb To rig or fix in order to cheat.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In Great, Britain, a theater of the lowest class, the admission to which is generally a penny; a cheap and loosely conducted place of amusement, where singing and dancing take place.
- noun Short for
gaffer . - noun A sharp, strong iron hook, like a large fish-hook without a barb, inserted into or otherwise attached to a wooden handle of convenient length, used especially for landing large fish, as salmon, pike, bass, or the like, after they have been hooked on the line. Also called
gaffhook . - noun Nautical, a spar used to extend the upper edge of fore-and-aft sails which are not set on stays, as the mainsail of a sloop or the spanker of a ship.
- noun The metal spur bound to the shanks of fighting-cocks; a gaffle.—
- To hook with a gaff; land by means of a gaff: as, to
gaff a fish. - To use the gaff: as, to
gaff for an angler. - noun Used in the following phrase.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To strike with a gaff or barbed spear; to secure by means of a gaff.
- noun A barbed spear or a hook with a handle, used by fishermen in securing heavy fish.
- noun (Naut.) The spar upon which the upper edge of a fore-and-aft sail is extended.
- noun Same as
Gaffle , 1.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rough or harsh treatment; criticism
- noun A
tool consisting of a large metalhook with a handle or pole, especially the one used to pull largefish aboard a boat. - noun A minor error or
faux pas . - noun A
trick orcon . - noun UK, slang A place of residence.
- noun nautical The upper
spar used to control a gaff-riggedsail . - noun A garment worn to hide the
genitals by maletransvestites . - verb To use a gaff, especially to land a fish.
- verb To
cheat orhoax
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a sharp metal spike or spur that is fastened to the leg of a gamecock
- noun a spar rising aft from a mast to support the head of a quadrilateral fore-and-aft sail
- noun an iron hook with a handle; used for landing large fish
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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So this gaff is all the reporters fault for being insecure?
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So this gaff is all the reporters fault for being insecure?
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And surprisingly, there are many situations when a gaff is a better tool than a landing net for releasing fish.
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It will be interesting to see if this proves, once again, the truth of the old saying that in Washington, D.C. the definition of a "gaff" is slipping up and telling the truth.
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"How d'ye do, Ole," Charley greeted a big blue-shirted Swede who was greasing the jaws of the main gaff with a piece of pork rind.
Charley's Coup 2010
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This gaff is not to be used for fishing, but to be hung as a collector's piece.
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The owner's bravery in recognising the nom-de-gaff is outstanding and to be aplauded.
Harbouring Thoughts Peter Ashley 2007
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A small hand gaff is a good idea if you plan on landing a fish for dinner.
How to Catch Fall Stripers: It's Not Easy, but It's Worth It 2005
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At the same time, they called the gaff reprehensible, but that's not all.
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The first rule of the gaff is never use one when a net will do.
sonofgroucho commented on the word gaff
I note some spell this gaffe.
May 19, 2007
reesetee commented on the word gaff
Hmm...not sure why anyone else added this, but I had in mind "gaff" meaning the hook or spar of a sail, not the faux pas "gaffe."
May 19, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word gaff
A sort of all-purpose tool carried by Newfoundland sealers, consisting of a light pole with a hook attached to one end. Used to club seals, but also to tow piles of pelts back to the ship, and to pull a man out if he fell through the ice.
December 10, 2007
AnWulf commented on the word gaff
For gaff meaning loud talk or harsh treatment: Perhaps from Old English gafsprǣc (“buffoonery, scurrility; blasphemous or ribald speech”), from Old English gaf (“base, vile, lewd”) + Old English sprǣc (“language, speech, talk”)
From Edgar Rice Burrows, Beyond Thirty (aka The Lost Continent):
"Numbers one, two, and five engines have broken down, sir," he called. "Shall we force the remaining three?"
"We can do nothing else," I bellowed into the transmitter.
"They won't stand the gaff, sir," he returned.
"Can you suggest a better plan?" I asked.
"No, sir," he replied.
"Then give them the gaff, lieutenant," I shouted back, and hung up the receiver.
August 31, 2012