miff
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L17888 on Wikidata ↗verb
- annoy slightly
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /mɪf/
noun
Etymology: Compare German muffeln (“grouse, grumble”) and similar German words with similar meanings such as Muff, mupf, Muffel and Dutch moppen (“growl, grouse”). Probably related to mop (“grimace”).
- A small argument; a quarrel.
“nay, she would throw it in the teeth of Allworthy himself, when a little quarrel, or miff, as it is vulgarly called, arose between them.”
“Well, to cut a long story short, by-long and by-late, John Wildway and I had a miff and parted; and lo and behold, the coming man came!”
- A state of being offended.
“She's taken a miff at something, I suppose, and means to cut my acquaintance.”
verb
Etymology: Compare German muffeln (“grouse, grumble”) and similar German words with similar meanings such as Muff, mupf, Muffel and Dutch moppen (“growl, grouse”). Probably related to mop (“grimace”).
- To offend slightly.
“he [our Interpreter Shabonah] will not agree to work let our Situation be what it may nor Stand a guard, and if miffed with any man he wishes to return when he pleases”
“1824, Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet […] answered my Thetis, a little miffed perhaps -- to use the women's phrase — that I turned the conversation upon my former partner, rather than addressed it to herself.”
- To become slightly offended.
“I amble on; yet, though I know not why, / So sad I am!—but should a friend and I / Grow cool and miff, O! I am very sad!”
“1905, George Barr McCutcheon, Jane Cable She miffed and started to reply, but thought better of it.”