biff
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
noun
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a blow with the fist
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slang:school a blow to the palm of the hand with a strap or cane as a punishment
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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biffsimple
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biffssimple
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have biffedperfect
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has biffedperfect
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am biffingprogressive
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are biffingprogressive
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is biffingprogressive
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have been biffingperfect progressive
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has been biffingperfect progressive
Past
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biffedsimple
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had biffedperfect
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was biffingprogressive
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were biffingprogressive
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had been biffingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of biff
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50; perhaps imitative
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
On the first point: MoviePass’ old management did indeed biff it spectacularly.
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2023
Lees walked down the track to Mohammed Shami in the second over of the innings and later greeted the spin of Ravindra Jadeja with a biff down the ground followed by a reverse sweep.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2022
They could biff three and still embarrass the rest of the world.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2016
Bit by bit – or rather biff by biff – they are dragging themselves back in this game.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 8, 2012
Then there was a regularly cannonading, Bert said, for there was scarcely a moment's quiet until every one of the six clocks had gone off "bing, bang, biff," as Freddie said.
From The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore by Hope, Laura Lee
Now Guy Ritchie brings us a version in which cheeky cockney tyke Arthur biffs his way through the entire cast of Game of Thrones in a suspiciously mega-populated version of dark ages Britain.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 4, 2017
But Seattle couldn’t turn it into a first down, as Hauschka biffs a 46-yard field-goal attempt.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2014
I took note this episode of how difficult it was to be a doctor in 1919, thanks to Dr. Clarkson’s plentiful biffs and boners.
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2012
Here he appeared for a brooding pre-match net on the outfield, his first official sighting in the Surrey tracksuit, which ended with a few tension-relieving biffs into the empty seats.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 1, 2010
An’ he looks at Ou’ Wolf an’ he looks round agen, an’ he yumps an’ he biffs a scorpion what he sees him wriggle his tail out from under a stone.
From Old Hendrik's Tales by Vaughan, Arthur Owen
The event closed with the more appropriate “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful,” but the keyboardist biffed the intro to the first and the singer strangled the final note of the second.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 15, 2020
By the middle of the tournament she had beaten a Grand Slam champion, Sam Stosur, and in the quarter-finals she biffed a player who had once been world number one, Caroline Wozniacki.
From Reuters ● May 23, 2019
Midway down the slope on a frigid day at Mission Ridge, I biffed into the snow.
From Slate ● Jun. 13, 2014
Usually, it’s pilot error, as with the guy in Colorado who got biffed off his snowmobile by an avalanche that he caused.
From BusinessWeek ● Mar. 13, 2014
So long!' and biffed out, without apparently knowing Derek was on the earth.
From The Little Warrior by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
Whether Pittsburgh’s vision also involved its place-kicker biffing an extra point and Baltimore missing a game-winning 44-yard field goal as time expired—it was a very difficult night for the human foot—he did not say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
His response since has been hearteningly uncowed: his upright, biffing style has brought eye-catching scores of 41 off 30 balls against Kings XI Punjab and a double-quick 30 against Chennai Super Kings.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 31, 2010
In World War I we rallied round the goal of biffing Kaiser Bill, the symbol of all that was hateful about Germany.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Okay, living, breathing human being,” he says, biffing her lightly on the shoulder.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
A silence fell upon the room, a silence that seemed to symbolize the "biffing" of the doctor's son by old French.
From Plashers Mead A Novel by MacKenzie, Compton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
