gaffa

English

Noun

gaffa (plural gaffas)

1. (UK, colloquial) Gaffer tape.
   • 2012, Katherine Angel, Unmastered, Penguin, published 2014, page 250:

     A body – a corpse – my own, I think – wrapped in tape, suspended in gaffa.

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: gaffas, gaffât

Verb

gaffa

1. third-person singular past historic of gaffer

Italian

Etymology

From Middle French gaffe, from Old Occitan gaf (“hook”), derivative of gafar (“to seize”), either from Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍆- (gaf-) derived from 𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (giban, “to give”) or from 𐌲𐌰𐍆𐌰𐌷 (gafah, “clasp”), from 𐌲𐌰- (ga-) (intensifier) + 𐍆𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (fahan, “to catch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡaf.fa/
• Rhymes: -affa
• Hyphenation: gàf‧fa

Noun

gaffa f (plural gaffe)

1. (nautical) gaff (hooked pole)

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Sicilian gaffa. Sense 3 is from Italian gaffa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡaf.fa/

Noun

gaffa f (plural gafef)

1. (nautical) palm (of a fluke)
2. bulldozer
4.  faux pas, gaffe
5. (figuratively) someone who always has the best cards (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)
6. (figuratively) glutton (one who eats voraciously)

   Synonym: wikkiel