scuff — English Dictionary

scuff
Pronunciations (3)
  • /skʌf/
    Pronunciation notes
    • General-American
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /skɐf/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Australia
    • New-Zealand
  • /skʊf/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Northern-England

Verb

  1. To scrape the feet while walking.

  2. To scrape and roughen the surface of (shoes, etc.)

  3. To hit lightly, to brush against.

    Examples

    The lawns and gardens had been scuffed away.

    Wallace threw himself at it to connect with a flying header. He looked a certain scorer but his effort scuffed the inside of Fraser Forster’s post.

  4. To mishit (a shot on a ball) due to poor contact with the ball.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    The Montenegro captain was finding space at will and followed up with a speculative shot that he scuffed wide, after Wales were slow in closing down the Juventus striker.

  5. Synonym of scrub in (“To break in new racing tires by doing a few gentle laps on them, with the resulting heat serving to remove factory coatings and provide better grip.”)

Noun

  1. A mark left by scuffing or scraping.

    Usage
    • attributive
    • sometimes
    Examples

    Someone left scuff marks in the sand.

    He flung his shoes across the room, their soles leaving black scuffs on the dingy wall.

  2. The sound of a scuff or scrape.

    Examples

    All you could hear was the rhythmic scuff of Mr. Stink’s battered brogues as he walked slowly along the road

  3. A slipper.

    Usage
    • Australia
    • New-Zealand
  4. A (sudden) shower of rain or mist.

    Usage
    • Scotland
    • Uncommon
    Examples
    More examples (3)

    It was a dark, gloomy day, with black clouds driven by the wind, and scuffs of grey showers scudding among the hilltops. Presently lying couched amid the heather we saw the dragoons come marching loosely two and two,[…]

    and when I got [to] the shoulder of the Craig yonder, cold scuffs of mist were reaching down from higher up, that told me how my view was to be spoiled, and warned me to mind my path. But I knew the heights; many a time have I been caught in the descending clouds, and a mist was like an old friend.

    When, having lunched, we breasted the climbing path in the early afternoon, the mists came down on Dollar Law, and across the valley drifted "scuffs" of soft rain that soaked us ere we topped the summit of the Bitch Craig. The grasses were top-heavy with beads of water, and rudely shook themselves over our boots as we squelched through them,[…]

Noun

  1. A scurf; a scale.

    Usage
    • Slang
  2. The back part of the neck; the scruff.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    One of the biggest and most redoubted of the Black Family was now in that seat of dignity, and, refusing surlily to yield it at Jasper's rude summons, was seized by the scuff of the neck, and literally hurled on the table in front.

Noun

  1. a slipper that has no fitting around the heel

    Synonyms
  2. the act of scuffing (scraping or dragging the feet)

    Broader terms

Verb

  1. walk without lifting the feet

    Synonyms
  2. get or become scuffed

    Examples

    These patent leather shoes scuffed

  3. mar by scuffing

    Examples

    scuffed shoes

  4. poke at with the foot or toe

    Broader terms
Word forms
scuffsscuffingscuffedscuffedscuffs

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