Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A portable fork of iron or wood in which the heavy musket formerly in use was rested that it might be accurately aimed and fired.
- noun The steel lever by the aid of which crossbows were bent.
- noun An artificial spur of steel put on a cock when it is set to fight.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An artificial spur or gaff for gamecocks.
- noun A lever to bend crossbows.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete A
lever used to bend acrossbow - noun A steel
spur attached to agamecock - verb To
seize - verb To
steal - verb Gaffling is a planning technique for orienteering relay courses whereby individual routes are planned so as to vary slightly and to make following difficult. This means that the competition depends more on navigational skills rather than just physical ability. See British Orienteering Federation's Event Guideline F for Relay Events, Section 3.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Even if I'm talking to other adults, I will respond with things like "gaffle" and "butt hurt" sorry I don't know if a hyphen goes in or not.
"Thick as mince and a clatty bastit" Peter Rozovsky 2010
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I had not heard "gaffle" and "butt hurt" before, by the way.
"Thick as mince and a clatty bastit" Peter Rozovsky 2010
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Scarcely a second did they eye one another when crack! slap! they were at it, wing and gaffle.
The Reckoning 1899
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When fired it was-placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground.
PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete John Lothrop Motley 1845
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When fired it was - placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground.
History of the United Netherlands, 1590-92 John Lothrop Motley 1845
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When fired it was-placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground.
History of the United Netherlands, 1590-99 — Complete John Lothrop Motley 1845
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When fired it was-placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground.
History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce — Complete (1584-1609) John Lothrop Motley 1845
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Consider these entries, all from the Gs: gaffle (several men gaffle into something heavy and lift it together), goose greens, grinding sheep, gundalow, gunkhole, gurnet, gurry and gurrybutt, guzzle hole.
fionnuala commented on the word gaffle
Heard the word gaffle for the first time this morning when my husband said he "gaffled up" the two lambs and put them in a pen. He said his father(b 1911) used the word frequently.We are in rural Ontario. Family emigrated here from Palatinate Germany(1700s) via West of Ireland in 1850s.
May 2, 2010
bilby commented on the word gaffle
Interesting that the three TCD definitions are all quite different, yet all reek of violence.
January 31, 2024