| 释义 |
niff-naff, v. Sc. and north. dial.
[Of obscure formation: niff-naff as n. in the sense of a trifling or unimportant thing is also common in north. dial. and Sc.]
intr. To trifle.
1728Ramsay There's my Thumb iii, Dear lassie, it is but daffin To had thy wooer up ay niff naffin. a1878Ainslie Land of Burns (1892) 318 Nif-naffin' at her apron strings. 1894Northumbld. Gloss. s.v., He niffnaffed at the job.
So niff(y)-naffy a., trifling, finical.
1796W. Marshall Yorksh. (ed. 2) Gloss., Niffy-naffy. 1815Scott Guy M. xliv, Thae niff-naffy gentles that gae sae muckle fash wi' their fancies. 1855Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘A niffy naffy sort of a body’, a person possessed of the opposite to business habits. |