paff

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Piff-paff left of him: piff-paff right of him

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Definitions (1)

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  1. A meaningless syllable, used, with piff, to imitate what is regarded as jargon. Of a truth it often provokes me to laugh To see these beggars hobble along, Lamed and maimed, and fed upon chaff, Chanting their wonderful piff and paff. Longfellow, Golden Legend, v.

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Examples (50)

  • Bid for Britain's nuclear power stations goes piff paff poof —  Greenpeace UK - Comments
  • W'en I come 'long down I felt dat skittish twel ef a leaf had blow'd 'crost de paff, I'd 'a' des about drapt in my tracks How come dat, Sis Tempy?" —  Nights With Uncle Remus
  • "I do think girls are the greatest geese in the world With this dogmatic assertion, Master Bob shoved himself head and shoulders out of the window again, utterly ignoring poor Nellie's existence, much to her chagrin and dismay He was very rude, it must be confessed; but, some allowance should be made for him, all things considered In the first place, he was a boy just fresh from the rougher associations of school life; and, secondly, his inquiring mind was intently occupied in endeavouring to solve a series of mathematical problems that set all Euclid's laws at defiance, as the train whizzed on its way with a `piff-paff! —  Bob Strong's Holidays Adrift in the Channel
  • We were all so comfortable, and then suddenly the Austrian ARCHDUKE gets himself murdered and, piff-paff, we Germans must go to war against Russia and France and England. —  Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, June 27, 1917
  • Strate is de rode an narrer is de paff which leadeff to glory." —  The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 277, October 13, 1827
 

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Etymologies (1)

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  1. from German paff! pop! bang! piffpaff, pop! an interjection of contempt.
 

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