scuff

present singular third person scuffs · participle present scuffing · participle past scuffed · past scuffed

1. To scrape the feet while walking.
2. To scrape and roughen the surface of (shoes, etc.)
3. To hit lightly, to brush against.

   The lawns and gardens had been scuffed away.

   1979, V. S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River

   1 more example

   Wallace threw himself at it to connect with a flying header. He looked a certain scorer but his effort scuffed the inside of Fraser Forster’s post.

   2011 December 29, Keith Jackson, “SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0”, in Daily Record

4. To mishit (a shot on a ball) due to poor contact with the ball.

   The Montenegro captain was finding space at will and followed up with a speculative shot that he scuffed wide, after Wales were slow in closing down the Juventus striker.

   2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC

5. hobbiesSynonym of scrub in (“To break in new racing tires by doing a few gentle laps on them, with the resulting heat serving to remove factory coatings and provide better grip.”)

   Synonyms: scrub in

plural scuffs

1. attributivesometimesA mark left by scuffing or scraping.

   Someone left scuff marks in the sand.

   1 more example

   He flung his shoes across the room, their soles leaving black scuffs on the dingy wall.

   2015, Charles W. Jones, Hydrangeas on the Lanai

2. The sound of a scuff or scrape.

   All you could hear was the rhythmic scuff of Mr. Stink’s battered brogues as he walked slowly along the road

   2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

3. AustraliaNew ZealandA slipper.
4. ScotlanduncommonA (sudden) shower of rain or mist.

   It was a dark, gloomy day, with black clouds driven by the wind, and scuffs of grey showers scudding among the hilltops. Presently lying couched amid the heather we saw the dragoons come marching loosely two and two,[…]

   1895, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Men of the Moss-hags: Being a History of Adventure Taken from the Papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway and, page 313

   2 more examples

   and when I got [to] the shoulder of the Craig yonder, cold scuffs of mist were reaching down from higher up, that told me how my view was to be spoiled, and warned me to mind my path. But I knew the heights; many a time have I been caught in the descending clouds, and a mist was like an old friend.

   1902, Nicholas Dickson, William Sanderson, The Border Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, page 159

   When, having lunched, we breasted the climbing path in the early afternoon, the mists came down on Dollar Law, and across the valley drifted "scuffs" of soft rain that soaked us ere we topped the summit of the Bitch Craig. The grasses were top-heavy with beads of water, and rudely shook themselves over our boots as we squelched through them,[…]

   1910, Nicholas Dickson, William Sanderson, The Border Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, page 52

plural scuffs

1. slangA scurf; a scale.
2. The back part of the neck; the scruff.

   One of the biggest and most redoubted of the Black Family was now in that seat of dignity, and, refusing surlily to yield it at Jasper's rude summons, was seized by the scuff of the neck, and literally hurled on the table in front.

   1858, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do with It?