different between arse vs quiff

English

Alternative forms

• ass (US)

Etymology

From Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-West Germanic *ars, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Dutch aars and German Arsch), from Proto-Indo-European *h?érsos (“backside, buttocks”) (according to Julius Pokorny and Carl Darling Buck).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??s/
• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /??s/
• (Ireland, US) IPA^(key): /??s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s

Noun

arse (plural arses)

1. (current in South Africa, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, dated in New England, now vulgar) The buttocks or more specifically, the anus.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:buttocks, Thesaurus:anus

   • 2011, James Smart, The Guardian, 12 March:

     As the novel progresses, he is shot in the hand with his own gun, shot in the arse with someone else's and lacerated by a prosthetic weed trimmer.
2. (chiefly Britain, derogatory slang) A stupid, mean or despicable person.
   • 2007, Martin Harrison, The Judgement of Paris, p.282:

     “You're an arse,” Ellen said. ¶ “Please? You must like something about me …?” ¶ “I do. You're an arse. I just told you that. I feel comfy with you, because you're such an arse.”

   • 2007, L. A. Wilson, The Silurian: Book One: The Fox and the Bear, p.103:

     He looked at me, was just about to call me an arse, when I told him, “You throw it too hard. Try and think of the javelin hitting the target before you throw it. Let it all go through your mind first, see it, feel it, then throw it.” ¶ “Good advice, you arse,” he said and tried again.

   • 2011, Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes, unnumbered page:

     Felnigg. What a suppurating arse. Look at him. Arse.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:arse.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: lasi

Translations

Verb

arse (third-person singular simple present arses, present participle arsing, simple past and past participle arsed)

1. (slang, intransitive) To be silly, act stupid or mess around.

   Stop arsing around!

   • 1985, Sam McAughtry, McAughtry's War, page 10,

     He was university material, just arsing about as a rigger, arsing about, killing time with bohunks like me […] .

   • 2005, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, page 291,

     Pi, upset, roars, "Quit arsing around there and get cracking," and a dozen heads turn their way.

   • 2011, Jaine Fenn, Bringer of Light, unnumbered page,

     He was half-expecting a call from the lingua, telling him to stop arsing around, but his com stayed silent, so it looked like a certain amount of arsing around was allowed.

Derived terms

• arse about (verb)
• arse around (verb)
• half-arsed (adjective)
• can't be arsed

Anagrams

• AREs, Ares, EARs, ERAs, Ersa, SERA, Sear, ares, ears, eras, rase, reas, sare, sear, sera

Italian

Adjective

arse f pl

1. feminine plural of arso

Verb

arse

1. third-person singular indicative past historic of ardere

Participle

arse

1. feminine plural of the past participle of ardere

Anagrams

• ersa, rase, resa, sera

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ar.se/, [?ärs??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ar.se/, [??rs?]

Participle

arse

1. vocative masculine singular of arsus

Old Irish

Etymology

Univerbation of airi (“for the sake of it; therefore”) +? se (“this”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ar??s?e/

Adverb

arse

1. therefore, for this/that reason

   Synonym: airi

   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 12^a22

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• ársis

Noun

arse f (plural arses)

1. (poetry, music) arsis (the stronger part of a measure or foot)

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?arse]

Adjective

arse

1. genitive/dative feminine singular of ars
2. nominative/accusative feminine/neuter plural of ars
3. genitive/dative feminine/neuter plural of ars

Verb

arse

1. third-person singular simple perfect indicative of arde

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /kw?f/, [k?w??f]
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

Variant form of whiff.

Noun

quiff (plural quiffs)

1. (British dialect) A puff or whiff, especially of tobacco smoke.

Etymology 2

Origin unknown.

Noun

quiff (plural quiffs)

1. (regional, slang) A trick or ploy; a stratagem. [from 19th c.]
   • 1933, John Masefield, The Bird of Dawning:

     It was young Mr. Abbott worked that quiff on you, sir.

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain; perhaps a variant of coif.

Noun

quiff (plural quiffs)

1. (Britain) A hairstyle whereby the forelock is brushed and/or gelled upward, often associated with the styles of the 1950s. [from 19th c.]
   • 2012, Tom Lamont, The Observer, 2 Sep 2012:

     His woolly brown hair shaped into a drooping quiff, he's been sitting poolside all morning, snatching sucks on cigarettes before the waiters can tell him no, and thinking about reworking some incidental music for the band's gig tomorrow.

Translations

Verb

quiff (third-person singular simple present quiffs, present participle quiffing, simple past and past participle quiffed)

1. (Britain) To arrange (the hair) in such a manner. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

• quiffed

Etymology 4

Probably variant of coif (“vulva”).

Noun

quiff (plural quiffs)

1. (slang) A young girl, especially as promiscuous; a prostitute. [from 20th c.]
   • 1949, John O'Hara, Rage to Live:

     How would I get an African toothache when the closest I been to a quiff in over a month is sitting next to one?

2. (slang) The vulva or vagina. [from 20th c.]
   • 2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate 2011, p. 120:

     Jane was drying herself in the bedroom, holding the bath towel behind her shoulders, her small breasts and childlike nipples flushed from the power jet, her quiff a barely visible thread.