adj
Meaning 1
Surly; annoyed; displeased; disgruntled.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
chuff
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /t͡ʃʌf/
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UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Australian, New-Zealand: /t͡ʃɐf/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Northern-England: /t͡ʃʊf/
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rhymes with -ʌf
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homophone: chough
adj
Meaning 2
stupid; churlish; loutish.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, dialectal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Pleased, proud.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 4
Swollen with fat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 5
Chubby.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 6
In a chuff manner.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A coarse or stupid fellow.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
Superfluous small talk that is free of conflict, offers no character development, description or insight, and does not advance the story or plot.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: communications, journalism, literature, media, publishing, scriptwriting, writing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
A noisy puffing sound.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 10
A breathy noise produced by a tiger, similar in function to a cat's purr.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 11
The vagina.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, vulgar
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 12
The anus.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, vulgar
Examples
- The car behind was following too close — it was right up my chuff.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 13
To make noisy puffing sounds, as of a steam locomotive.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 14
To break wind.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 15
Of a powder, propellant, or explosive charge: to become extinguished and reignited intermittently.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- 1967 Leo Allen Lukenas: The ignition transient in small solid propellant rocket motors. Princeton University Double base propellants often require ignition pressures of as much as 400 psia to avoid the problem of chuffing or hangfires.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 16
Used as a replacement for obscenities, particularly fuck.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, euphemistic
Examples
- Oh chuff off! I'm so chuffing fed up with all of the spam posts on my timeline.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 17
blow hard and loudly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he huffed and puffed as he made his way up the mountain
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: puff, huff
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: blow
History
Etymology
15th century, dialectal, from Middle English chuffe (“a rustic, boor”), in noun sense “stupid fellow”. Adjective sense “surly, displeased” from 1832.
1520s, in sense “swollen with fat”; circa 1860, British dialect, in sense “pleased”. Possibly related to “coarse, stupid, fat-headed” sense (see etymology 1 above). Or, perhaps a euphemistic alteration of fuck or another expletive.
Onomatopoeic. Compare chug and puff.
Across languages
Translations
12 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: грубиян (grubijan) — a coarse or stupid fellow
- French: glandu — a coarse or stupid fellow
- French: mou du bulbe — a coarse or stupid fellow
- German: ungehobelter Kerl — a coarse or stupid fellow
- German: Flegel — a coarse or stupid fellow
- Hungarian: goromba pokróc/fráter — a coarse or stupid fellow
- Russian: мужла́н (mužlán) — a coarse or stupid fellow
- Russian: грубия́н (grubiján) — a coarse or stupid fellow
- Bulgarian: пуфкам (pufkam) — to make noisy puffing sounds
- Bulgarian: пуфтя (puftja) — to make noisy puffing sounds
- German: schnaufen — to make noisy puffing sounds
- Hungarian: pöfög — to make noisy puffing sounds