scuff

verb
/skʌf/US/skɐf/

Etymology

From Scots scuff (“to touch lightly, graze, hit”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old Norse skúfa (“to shove, push aside”), from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną (“to shove”). Or, perhaps imitative. More at shove.

  1. derived from *skeubaną — “to shove
  2. derived from skúfa — “to shove, push aside
  3. borrowed from scuff — “to touch lightly, graze, hit

Definitions

  1. To scrape the feet while walking.

  2. To scrape and roughen the surface of (shoes, etc.)

  3. To hit lightly, to brush against.

    • The lawns and gardens had been scuffed away.
    • Wallace threw himself at it to connect with a flying header. He looked a certain scorer but his effort scuffed the inside of Fraser Forster’s post.
  4. + 7 more definitions
    1. To mishit (a shot on a ball) due to poor contact with the ball.

      • The Montenegro captain was finding space at will and followed up with a speculative shot that he scuffed wide, after Wales were slow in closing down the Juventus striker.
    2. A mark left by scuffing or scraping.

      • Someone left scuff marks in the sand.
      • He flung his shoes across the room, their soles leaving black scuffs on the dingy wall.
    3. The sound of a scuff or scrape.

      • All you could hear was the rhythmic scuff of Mr. Stink’s battered brogues as he walked slowly along the road
    4. A slipper.

    5. A (sudden) shower of rain or mist.

      • It was a dark, gloomy day, with black clouds driven by the wind, and scuffs of grey showers scudding among the hilltops. Presently lying couched amid the heather we saw the dragoons come marching loosely two and two,[…]
    6. A scurf

      A scurf; a scale.

    7. The back part of the neck

      The back part of the neck; the scruff.

      • One of the biggest and most redoubted of the Black Family was now in that seat of dignity, and, refusing surlily to yield it at Jasper's rude summons, was seized by the scuff of the neck, and literally hurled on the table in front.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for scuff. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA