Chuff vs Chiff - What's the difference?
chuff | chiff |
To make noisy puffing sounds, as of a steam locomotive.
* 1912 , Katherine Mansfield, "The Woman At The Store", Selected Short Stories
* 1928 , D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover
* 1990 , John Updike, Rabbit at Rest
(British, informal) To break wind.
(scriptwriting, uncountable) Superfluous small talk that is free of conflict, offers no character development, description or insight, and does not advance the story or plot.
* “ (music) The characteristic sound made as part of the attack of certain notes on the organ.
*1998 , Fletcher, N.H. and Rossing, T.D, The Physics of Musical Instruments , Springer Science & Business Media, page 570
*:In all these adjustments, the voicer must have regard to the steady sound of the pipe, to its promptness of speech, and to the presence or absence of any desired starting transient or chiff .
As nouns the difference between chuff and chiff
is that chuff is a coarse or stupid fellow while chiff is the characteristic sound made as part of the attack of certain notes on the organ.As an adjective chuff
is surly.As a verb chuff
is to purposefully fail a standardized test in a conspicuous way.chuff
English
Etymology 1
15th century, dialectical, in noun sense “stupid fellow”. Adjective sense “surly, displeased” from 1832.Synonyms
* (surly) chuffy * (swollen) chuffyEtymology 2
Onomatopoeic. English onomatopoeias Compare chug and puff.Verb
(en verb)- The horses stumbled along, coughing and chuffing .
- ... and the small lit up train that chuffed past in the cutting made it seem like real night.
- The pigeons chuff and chortle off in indignant disappointment.
Noun
(-)Etymology 3
1520s, in sense “swollen with fat”; circa 1860, British dialect, in sense “pleased”. Possibly related to “coarse, stupid, fat-headed” sense.Derived terms
* (pleased) chuffedReferences
chuff]” at [http://septicscompanion.com The Septic’s Companion: A British Slang Dictionary