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scuff

 - 3 dictionary results

scuff

[skuhf]
–verb (used with object)
1. to scrape (something) with one's foot or feet.
2. to rub or scrape (one's foot or feet) over something.
3. to mar by scraping or hard use, as shoes or furniture.
4. Chiefly Scot.
a. to brush against, as in passing.
b. to brush off; wipe off.
–verb (used without object)
5. to walk without raising the feet from the ground; shuffle.
6. to scrape or rub one's foot back and forth over something.
7. to be or become marred or scratched by scraping or wear.
8. (of machine parts, as gear teeth) to creep from pressure and friction so that ridges appear transversely to the direction of wear.
–noun
9. the act or sound of scuffing.
10. a flat-heeled slipper with a full-length sole and an upper part covering only the front of the foot.
11. a marred or scratched place on an item, as from scraping or wear.

Origin:
1585–95; < MLG schūven to shove
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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scuff   (skŭf)   
v.   scuffed, scuff·ing, scuffs

v.   intr.
To scrape the feet while walking; shuffle.
v.   tr.
  1. To scrape with the feet.

  2. To shuffle or shift (the feet), as in embarrassment.

  3. To scrape and roughen the surface of.

n.  
  1. The act or sound of scraping especially with the feet.

  2. A worn or rough spot resulting from scraping.

  3. A flat backless house slipper.


[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skūfa, to push.]
scuff'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

scuff  (v.)
1768, from Scottish, probably from a Scand. source related to O.N. skufa, skyfa "to shove." Scuffle (1579) is probably a frequentative form, also of Scand. origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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