daffing

American  

[daf-ing] / ˈdæf ɪŋ /

noun

Scot. and North England.

1. silliness; playful behavior; merriment;

2. Archaic. insanity.

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Etymology

Origin of daffing

First recorded in 1525–35; daff ¹ + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

daffing

At bughts, in the morning, nae blythe lads are scorning,   Lasses are lonely and dowie and wae; Nae daffing, nae gabbing, but sighing and sabbing,   Ilk ane lifts her leglin and hies her away.

From Bulchevy's Book of English Verse by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

He knew there would be no laughing and daffing about the work, if Thora Ragnor had the doing of it.”

From An Orkney Maid by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

To his humour of daffing I succumbed, and fell into an extraordinary ease with the world.

From A Daughter of Raasay A Tale of the '45 by Stuart Travis

Aren’t you the sparky blade, the daffing callant, Naffing and nickering like a three-year-old?

From Krindlesyke by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

It was just daffing, I tell ye: daffing, and nae mair: a piece of fun, like! 

From Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson