Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To quarrel; be offended.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun British slang An unpleasant smell.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an unpleasant smell
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word niff.
Examples
-
This description ends with the words, “… and walruses wif teef nike niff.”
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Win a SONY Reader. It’s as easy as sharing your emotions. 2009
-
There was a smell about the place, which I imagined as the smell of misery and fear, though I supposed it was no more than the niff of ancient squalor and an absence of drains.
Sick Cycle Carousel 2010
-
The general historical niff level would only be worthy of comment to a time traveller.
Sense of smell in historical fiction Carla 2006
-
After dinner Billy Ray went off to niff, and I went over to the library to see about Browning.
Futures Imperfect Willis, Connie 1994
-
At length, however, she departed, grumbling between her teeth, that she wad rather lock up a haill ward than be fiking about thae niff-naffy gentles that gae sae muckle fash wi their fancies.
Chapter XLIV 1917
-
They also told me that when you got close to them, they had a "'trong,' trong 'niff;' niff too much."
Travels in West Africa Mary H. Kingsley 1881
-
At length, however, she departed, grumbling between her teeth, that 'she wad rather lock up a haill ward than be fiking about thae niff-naffy gentles that gae sae muckle fash wi' their fancies. '
Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Complete Walter Scott 1801
-
At length, however, she departed, grumbling between her teeth, that 'she wad rather lock up a haill ward than be fiking about thae niff-naffy gentles that gae sae muckle fash wi' their fancies. '
Guy Mannering — Complete Walter Scott 1801
-
At length, however, she departed, grumbling between her teeth, that 'she wad rather lock up a haill ward than be fiking about thae niff-naffy gentles that gae sae muckle fash wi' their fancies. '
Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Volume 02 Walter Scott 1801
-
But in time he came to feel that merely stifling the piggy niff was unambitious: the vast lakes of pigshit produced at hog farms ought in some way to be a revenue source rather than a waste product.
The Register Team Register 2010
chained_bear commented on the word niff
"There was a smell about the place, which I imagined as the smell of misery and fear, though I supposed it was no more than the niff of ancient squalor and an absence of drains."
—Diana Gabaldon, Outlander (NY: Delacorte Press, 1991), 704
January 1, 2010
jmjarmstrong commented on the word niff
JM knowns a niff is not nifty and turns his nose up at it.
February 17, 2011