shandygaff

The origin is unknown. Perhaps from dialectal shandy (“boisterous, empty-headed”) +‎ gaff (“outcry, nonsense”).

shandygaff (countable and uncountable, plural shandygaffs)

1. A mixture of strong beer and ginger beer.
   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Chapter 22”, in The Wrecker:

     “A bottle of beer for the cabman there at that table,” said Tom. “Whatever you please from shandygaff to champagne at this one here; and you sit down with us. Let me make you acquainted with my friend, Mr. Carthew. I've come on business, Billy; I want to consult you as a friend; I'm going into the island trade upon my own account.”

   • 1894, Horace Tucker, “Chapter 32”, in The New Arcadia:

     On that side, plain for hundreds of miles; on this, forest: there, they drink squash and shandygaff; here, whisky and strong beer

   • 1909, H. G. Wells, The History of Mr. Polly, Chapter 1:

     There would always be weighty enquiries as to what they could have, and it would work out always at cold beef and pickles, or fried ham and eggs and shandygaff, two pints of beer and two bottles of ginger beer foaming in a huge round-bellied jug

   • 1920, Christopher Morley, Travels in Philadelphia, South Broad Street:

     After this excursion into culture and charity, Broad street feels the need of one more whistle-wetting before it wanders off onto the vast expanse of sunny, pollen-scented meadows that stretch toward the dry zones of League Island. For this purpose exists the cool haven of McBride, on the corner of Moyamensing avenue. There I encountered one of the best beakers of shandygaff in my experience. And—wonder of wonders—it can still be bought for a nickel.

• shandy

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “shandygaff”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
• “shandygaff”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.