Skiffle

//ˈskɪf.əl// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A type of folk music, with jazz and blues influences, using homemade or improvised instruments. uncountable

    "The cats and the bats—and I hope you dig that one about the bats—played like mad in the backbeat 12, skiffling and skuffling , trying to get under the wire ."

  2. 2
    Synonym of skiff (“light shower of rain or snow; light dusting of snow or ice (on ground, water, etc)”).

    "For quotations using this term, see Citations:skiffle."

  3. 3
    a style of popular music in the 1950s; based on American folk music and played on guitars and improvised percussion instruments wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To play skiffle.
  2. 2
    To move in a way that stirs up and moves anything loose lying on the surface.

    "As I am sitting at the stoplight under the maple and oak and cedar trees I see three tiny kids skiffling and shuffling and skittering and scuffling In the leaves"

Synonyms

All synonyms
skiff

Example

More examples

"The cats and the bats—and I hope you dig that one about the bats—played like mad in the backbeat 12, skiffling and skuffling , trying to get under the wire ."

Etymology

From or related to Scots skiffle, from skiff (whence English skiff (“light rain, snow, etc”), which see for more). Related to skift (“light dusting of snow”).

More for "skiffle"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.