biff
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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biffs,
present (3rd person singular)
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biffed,
past participle, past
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biffing
present participle
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
They could biff three and still embarrass the rest of the world.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2016
Saturday's John Tessier sang with the subtler artistry, whereas the strong-voiced Jonathan Boyd was insistently loud and tended to biff out accents too emphatically.
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2011
A powerful baseball-style blast powers past mid-off for four more - and a brutal biff past mid-off moves Watson past 50, and allows him to overtake his partner's score for the first time.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2011
There was a legend that it had a habit of barking whenever the mailman came, but the author of biff says this is not true.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Guy L. Steele
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
As we talk, Cleobury biffs out a few chords of the Mozart Requiem and then some from Handel's Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline to suggest that Mozart may have "borrowed" from his predecessor.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 19, 2012
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
At least the fly buzzes round a bit and thinks he is seeing life before he biffs into the web.
From The Law and the Poor by Edward Abbott Parry
Later, we would find out that because Russia’s Roza Galieva biffed her double layout on floor, the U.S. hadn’t needed Strug’s second vault at all to win gold.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2021
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
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
But it is quite all right—I don't want you to mind having biffed me, in the least.
From Women in Love by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
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 Compton MacKenzie
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