Meanings
plural windcuffers
- UKdialectalrareThe common kestrel.
A windcuffer hovered overhead.
1980, Hamish M. Brown, Hamish's mountain walk: the first traverse, page 512 more examples
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, GMW Wemyss, Sensible Places: essays on place, time, & countryside →ISBN, in Wiltonshire, England), page 6I 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.
2012, Caitlín Matthews (born in Portsmouth, England), Bone Song, in John Matthews, The Book of Celtic Verse: A Treasury of Poetry, Dreams & Visions →ISBN
Origin
From wind + cuffer, from cuff (“hit, slap”); compare windhover.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
windcuffer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windcuffer
“windcuffer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windcuffer. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “windcuffer,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windcuffer.
Source: windcuffer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.