biff
/bɪf
/informal
verb [with object]
Strike (someone) roughly or sharply with the fist: he biffed me on the nose...
- But I don't go around biffing people, certainly not.
- Then I thought, it's either him or me, so I biffed him in the face three times.
- ‘It's just as well he went because if I had got hold of him I would have biffed him over the head with a saucepan or something similar,’ he said.
noun
A sharp blow with the fist.Even without an accident, standing passengers who lose their balance can and do unintentionally inflict pain on others with a biff from an elbow, a blow from a briefcase and the crushing of toes from staggering feet....
- A first biff blocked, he was undaunted as the rebound sat up for him to send a screamer into the top corner.
- The next moment he felt an extreme biff on his right upper-leg and the cold iron of a horseshoe pressed deep and hard in his flesh.
Origin
Mid 19th century (originally US): symbolic of a short sharp movement.
flirt from mid 16th century:
Like words such as biff (mid 19th century), bounce (early 16th century), flick [see fillip], and spurt (late 16th century), and many others often sharing the same sounds, flirt apparently arose because it somehow ‘sounded right’ to convey the idea it represented. In the case of flirt the elements fl- and -irt probably suggest sudden movement—the original verb senses were ‘to give someone a sharp blow’, ‘to move or propel suddenly’, and ‘to sneer at’. As a noun it first meant ‘joke, gibe’, and ‘flighty girl’, with a notion originally of cheekiness rather than of playfully amorous behaviour.