daffing | Word of the Day

September 04, 2019 daffing [daf-ing] noun 1. merriment; playful behavior; foolishness. ways-to-say 11 Unique Words Or Phrases For Wedding Vows And Toasts holidays What Word Is Your State Looking Up On Father's Day? WORD OF THE DAY daffing continued... QUOTES "Hoot-toot! hoot-toot!" said Cluny. "It was all daffing; it's all nonsense." -- Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, 1886 ORIGIN Daffing, "merriment, playfulness," also "insanity," is a British dialect word used in northern England and Scotland (the only two writers of note to use the word are the Scotsmen Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson). Daffing is a derivative of the Scottish verb daff "to play, make sport," from the obsolete noun daff "fool, idiot, coward," from the Middle English adjective dafte "well-mannered, gentle, humble," and "uncouth, boorish, dull" (possibly from the sense "humble, good-natured"). Dafte is also the source of daft "senseless, stupid, crazy," from Old English dæfte, defte "gentle." Daffing entered English in the 16th century. MORE FOR YOU 1 English Could Really Use These 9 Wunderbar German Words Many intimidating German terms actually pack in some truly amazing concepts—all in a single word. So, we think it would be wunderbar ("wonderful") if English embraced these nine (not nein!) German gems. 2 10 Emoji Teachers And Students Can't Live Without Whether you're a student or teacher heading back to class or just nostalgic for your school days, you'll want to have these back-to-school emoji ready to go. 3 Exculpate, Mockumentary, Burpless, And Other Words That Trended On Dictionary.com This Past Week In this batch of trending words, we offer a "stirring" mix of 10 terms that trended (i.e., significantly increased by percentage measured against searches on the the previous day). 4 How The Letter "X" Creates More Gender-Neutral Language As our understanding of gender expands from the binary of male and female to include intersex, nonbinary, and transgender people, we are exploring new ways of describing gender identity and expression—and the letter X has the power to help. 5 What Are Users Looking Up on Dictionary.com Every Day? You may have noticed a nifty new tool scrolling across the top of Dictionary.com. But, what makes it tick? © 2019 Dictionary.com, LLC. ABOUT CONTACT You are subscribed to the Word of the Day as: matzom229@gmail.com Subscriber since: September 06, 2017 Unsubscribe Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 400 Oakland CA 94607 Manage your subscription Terms & Privacy