different between tuft vs quiff

English

Etymology

From Middle English tuft, toft, tofte, an alteration of earlier *tuffe (> Modern English tuff), from Old French touffe, tuffe, toffe, tofe (“tuft”) (modern French touffe), from Late Latin tufa (“helmet crest”) (near Vegezio), from Germanic (compare Old English þ?f (“tuft”), Old Norse þúfa (“mound”), Swedish tuva (“tussock; grassy hillock”)), from Proto-Germanic *þ?b? (“tube”), *þ?baz; akin to Latin t?ber (“hump, swelling”), Ancient Greek ????? (t??ph?, “cattail (used to stuff beds)”). Equivalent to tuff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?ft/
• Rhymes: -?ft

Noun

tuft (plural tufts)

1. A bunch of feathers, grass or hair, etc., held together at the base.
2. A cluster of threads drawn tightly through upholstery, a mattress or a quilt, etc., to secure and strengthen the padding.
3. A small clump of trees or bushes.
4. (historical) A gold tassel on the cap worn by titled undergraduates at English universities.
5. (historical) A person entitled to wear such a tassel.

Derived terms

• tufthunting
• tufthunter

Translations

Verb

tuft (third-person singular simple present tufts, present participle tufting, simple past and past participle tufted)

1. (transitive) To provide or decorate with a tuft or tufts.
2. (transitive) To form into tufts.
3. (transitive) To secure and strengthen (a mattress, quilt, etc.) with tufts.
4. (intransitive) To be formed into tufts.

Translations

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.