tiff

Etymology 1

Originally, a sniff, sniffing; compare Icelandic word for a smell.

noun

1. A small argument; a petty quarrel.
   There’s Tom, now, since this tiff with Mrs. Cat, the scoundrel plays the Grand Turk here! 1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, Catherine: A Story
   Something to laugh off, not make a big issue out of. We’d had a little tiff and would have forgotten about it in a couple of days. 1997, Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; republished New York: Vintage Books, 1998, page 30
   At the other extreme, couples who are married with children have heavily disguised tiffs. A man saying in a slightly strained way, 'I'm going to turn the compost', is actually saying, 'And that's all you are, Jean, compost!' Of course, what happens is eventually he apologises, they cry, make love, have another child, get overtired and the tiffing continues. 2000-09-30, Guy Browning, “How to... have a tiff”, in The Guardian
2. Liquor; especially, a small draught of liquor.

verb

1. (intransitive) To quarrel.
   She tiff'd at Tim, she ran from Ralph. 1846, Walter Savage Landor, untitled

Etymology 2

From Middle English tiffen, Old French tiffer, tifer ("to bedizen"; > Modern French attifer), from Frankish *tipfōn, *tippōn (“to decorate”), perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“top, tip”). Compare Dutch tippen (“to clip the points or ends of the hair”), Old Norse tippa (“point, tip”), English tip (noun), Middle High German zipfen (“to prance; skip; sashay; bob; flutter; frisk”).

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To deck out; to dress.
   1768-1777, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued Is the Miss under a force when she culls among her trinkets with curious toil to tiff herself out in the most engaging manner

Etymology 3

verb

1. (British India, intransitive) To have lunch.
   Besides that one to which the permanent residence was attached, Mr. Augustus had several outlaying factories, which he visited from time to time, to superintend the manufacture of his indigo; at all of these he had little bungalows, or temporary abodes, where we tiffed and passed the heat of the day. 1841, The Asiatic journal and monthly register

Etymology 4

noun

1. Alternative form of TIFF