Etymology

reefer

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Today it means: Someone who reefs sails, especially a midshipman. Full definition →

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reefer · noun1

From reef + -er.

reefer · noun2

Clipping of refrigerator.

reefer · noun3

  1. Mexican Spanish · derived fromgrifa“cannabis”
  2. English todayreefer

Uncertain. Perhaps from Mexican Spanish grifa (“cannabis”)/Central American Spanish grifo (“someone who smokes cannabis”), or from the rolled-up appearance of a marijuana cigarette resembling a reefed sail. First attested in the 1920s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.