duffer
- Informal.
- a plodding, clumsy, incompetent person.
- a person inept or inexperienced at a specific sport, as golf.
- Northern and North Midland U.S. an old man, especially a dull or indecisive one.
- Slang.
- anything inferior, counterfeit, or useless.
- a peddler, especially one who sells cheap, flashy goods.
Origin of duffer
Related Words for duffer
clod, donkey, dunce, blunderer, butterfingers, klutz, dolt, bonehead, idiot, butcher, botcher, incompetent, fool, numskull, blockhead, ignoramus, duffer, bumbler, spoiler, foul-upExamples from the Web for duffer
Historical Examples of duffer
Diplomatists never do know anything official, do they, Duffer dear?
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
My dear sir, perhaps you don't know that my nickname since the age of five has been 'Duffer?'
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
But Duffer dear, honestly and truly it isn't for myself I'm afraid.
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
What do you think of me, Duffer—and after all the proofs we've just had of the dangerous creature I am?
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
Lend a hand, Duffer, and we'll give him to the Nubians the girls have brought.
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
duffer
- informal a dull or incompetent person
- slang something worthless
- dialect a peddler or hawker
- Australian slang
- a mine that proves unproductive
- a person who steals cattle
Word Origin for duffer
Word Origin and History for duffer
"inept person; old man," especially "bad golfer," 1842, perhaps from Scottish duffar "dull or stupid person," from dowf "stupid," literally "deaf," from Old Norse daufr, with pejorative suffix -art. Or perhaps from 18c. thieves' slang duff (v.) "to dress or manipulate an old thing and make it look new."