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scuff

Pronunciation: /skʌf/

The English word “scuff” has 11 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To scrape the feet while walking.
  2. To scrape and roughen the surface of (shoes, etc.)
  3. To hit lightly, to brush against.
  4. To mishit (a shot on a ball) due to poor contact with the ball.
  5. Synonym of scrub in (“To break in new racing tires by doing a few gentle laps on them, with the resulting heat serving to remove factory coatings and provide better grip.”)

noun

  1. A mark left by scuffing or scraping.
  2. The sound of a scuff or scrape.
  3. A slipper.
  4. A (sudden) shower of rain or mist.
  5. A scurf; a scale.
  6. The back part of the neck; the scruff.

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.