Cuffed in the Buff
Marge from Suttons Bay
cited a story in the Record-Eagle that spoke of an intoxicated woman who was “cuffed in the buff.” That
sounds like something out of Dr. Seuss.
She was found hiding
naked behind a tree in Leelanau County before being led away in handcuffs. Her
creative excuse was that she was about to go swimming.
Buff in this instance
means bare skin, and it refers to buffalo hide, which, after a certain kind of
processing, has a dull, whitish-yellow color.
·
Buff once
meant a blow, and to stand buff meant
not to flinch.
·
Buff also
means muscled and well-toned.
·
To buff a
surface is to polish it.
·
Buff also
meant a fan or an enthusiast who used to follow firemen at work. Volunteer
firefighters in New York in the early 1800s wore buff overcoats.
Cuff is also an
interesting word. It came from a Middle English term that meant a mitten.
·
Cuff is part
of a shirt sleeve or a glove that encircles the wrist.
·
A hemmed
trouser leg is called a cuff.
·
The
inflatable band used in measuring blood pressure is also a cuff.
·
To cuff
someone is to slap that person. It also means to apply handcuffs (Cuff ‘em, Danno! )
·
To speak off the cuff means without preparation. Put it on the cuff means give the item to me on credit.
·
It is also
an anatomical structure shaped like a cuff, as a rotator cuff.
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