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Glite Dictionary
🎣 A hook tool 🎣 To hook fish 🐓 A metal spur ⛵ A sail pole
gaff

gaff

1 9.9
A sharp metal spike fastened to a rooster's leg for fighting
  • noun
  • /ɡæf/
  • NSFW
translation icon : espuela de pelea
  • Fishermen struggling with a gaff—something in the water—

Examples

  • Graciella beats at him with the gaff hook and tries to pull herself atop the can.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Have those gaffs ready.

    The Perfect Storm (2000)

  • It was the man who hit him over the head with a gaff.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • I anxiously waited for the gaffs to be driven into its massive head.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • A mean-looking hooked and pointed boatman's gaff rested in the bottom of this waterman's boat.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The trainer carefully attached the gaff to the rooster's leg before the match.

  • Fighters often check the sharpness of their gaff to ensure it is ready for competition.

  • He noticed that the winning chicken had a well-maintained gaff, which helped it dominate the fight.

Synonyms

gad
vsgaff
  • Archaic
9.9

A sharp metal spike on a rider's heel to make a horse move faster

is fixed to the bird's leg to urge it rather than the rider

Compounds

gaff topsail
  • Specialized
9.9

A triangular sail set above the gaff with its bottom on the gaff and its front edge along the topmast

gaff-headed sail
  • Specialized
9.9

A four-sided sail set along the boat with its top held by a sloping pole

Surface Forms

gaff singular
gaffs plural

Etymology

Gaff for a fighting-cock spike likely comes from an old word meaning 'hook' or 'spur', so it helps to think of it as a sharp hooked spike fixed to the bird's leg to wound an opponent.