Nerf
[ nurf ]
/ nɜrf /
|
Trademark.
the brand name of various toys modeled especially on sports equipment but made of foam rubber or other soft substances.
verb (used with object)
(lowercase) Slang. (in a video game) to reconfigure (an existing character or weapon), making it less powerful: The game development team nerfed several guns in the recent update.
RELATED CONTENT
Feels, Facepalm, And Fleek: New Words Added To The DictionaryIn our latest update to the dictionary, we added more than 150 new words and definitions, and revised over 1,000 entries. New additions such as feels, yaaas, and doge highlight the role of social media in transmitting and popularizing new terms, while fitness tracker, digital wallet, and Internet of Things demonstrate the new ways that technological innovation is changing the way we live and speak …
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for nerf
He shot at them with his Nerf Gun, assaulted them with racial epithets, and worst of all, he stole their snacks.
Some 4 a.m. Brainstorming on How to Make Obama Tougher Than Putin|Annabelle Gurwitch|May 23, 2014|DAILY BEASTI notice a yellow Nerf gun–like toy on the couch inside the firehouse.
With the Fireman of Brooklyn’s Company 224 as They Observe the Fallen|Maurice Emerson Decaul|September 12, 2013|DAILY BEASTThe shield was covered with horn, sinews or nerf, and skin or rind.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 2 (of 7)|Geoffrey Chaucer
Word Origin and History for nerf
nerf
1955, in nerf bars, hot-rodder slang for "custom bumpers;" from slang verb in auto racing (1953) meaning "to nudge something with a bumper in passing and knock it off course;" ultimate origin and signification unknown.
As a trademark name for toys made of foam-like material for indoor play, introduced 1970 (Nerf ball). By 1995 this had yielded a verbal sense of "to make less effective" (as a Nerf basketball is softer and lighter than the real thing).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper