Daff
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A fool; an idiot; a blockhead.
- 2 Clipping of daffodil. British, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal
"Get your daffs here - £2 a bunch."
- 3 Alternative form of daf (“type of drum”). alt-of, alternative
"Thus, there is considerable debate going on among Chaush whether performing daff music is in accordance with Islamic law or not,"
- 4 A preparation of gypsum once used to adulterate food products. obsolete, uncountable
- 1 To be foolish; make sport; play; toy. Scotland, intransitive
"We'll hauld our court mid the roaring lins, And daff in the lashan' tide"
- 2 To toss (aside); to dismiss. transitive
"DON PEDRO. I would she had bestowed this dotage on me; I would have daffed all other respects and made her half myself."
- 3 To daunt. UK, dialectal, obsolete
"Young Tam came up and eyed me quick With reddened cheek—Braw Tam was daffed like a chick—He could na speak—Ah Marie they are all gane hame"
- 4 To turn (someone) aside; divert. transitive
Example
More examples"We'll hauld our court mid the roaring lins, And daff in the lashan' tide"
Etymology
From Middle English daf, daffe (“fool, idiot”), from Old Norse daufr (“deaf, stupid”), from Proto-Germanic *daubaz (“deaf, stunned”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, whirl, smoke, be obscure”). Doublet of deaf, dof, and dowf. Cognate with Swedish döv (“deaf”), Danish døv (“deaf, stupid”). More at deaf.
From Middle English daffen (“to render foolish”), from daf, daffe (“fool, idiot”). See above.
Variant of doff.
From daffodil.
More for "daff"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.