Origin: 1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French gaffe, gaff < Provençal gaf hook, gaff, noun derivative of gafar to seize (compare Medieval Latin gaffare), probably < Germanic (Visigothic) *gaff-, perhaps derivative from base of Gothic gibangive
Example Sentences
He then gave orders for a man to go up and loose the gaff topsails.
Perry, the problem may be that nobody was really shocked by the latest gaff.
The two teams had agreed to race only the old-fashioned wooden boats known as gaff rigs, some of them a century old.