Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
windcuffer. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
windcuffer, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
windcuffer in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
windcuffer you have here. The definition of the word
windcuffer will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
windcuffer, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From wind + cuffer, from cuff (“hit, slap”); compare windhover.
Noun
windcuffer (plural windcuffers)
- (UK dialectal, originally Orkney, rare) The common kestrel.
1980, Hamish M. Brown, Hamish's mountain walk: the first traverse, page 51:A windcuffer hovered overhead.
- 2012, GMW Wemyss, Sensible Places: essays on place, time, & countryside →ISBN, in Wiltonshire, England), page 6:
- An auld ram alone huddled against the wind, that had swept clear the skies even of eagle, windcuffer, and goose. The scent of saltwater rode the wind over the freshwater loch, and the dry field-grasses rattled,
- 2012, Caitlín Matthews (born in Portsmouth, England), Bone Song, in John Matthews, The Book of Celtic Verse: A Treasury of Poetry, Dreams & Visions →ISBN:
- I was gorse on the track beaconing the way,
- I was seal in the sea, braving the swell,
- I was windcuffer mounting the bitter winds,
- I was cloud billowing higher than Hoy.
Usage notes
Originally used in the dialect of Orkney,[1][2][3] the term has more recently been used by a few writers from southern England.
References
- ^ George Barry, History of the Orkney Islands (1805)
- ^ John Jamieson, An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1818)
- ^ H. Kirke Swann, Dictionary of English and Folk-Names of British Birds (1913)