duffers

Noun

duffer (plural duffers)

1. (informal) An incompetent, indolent, or clumsy person.
   • Besides, I was anxious to take the wheel, the man in pink pyjamas showing himself a hopeless duffer at the business.1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II

   Synonyms:

   unskilled person

2. A player having little skill, especially a golfer who duffs.
   • 4. P-N5 BxP Clearly, Duras intends to have his fun with this duffer.1963 March, Walter Korn, “The Finishing Touch”, in Chess Review
3. (archaic) A pedlar or hawker, especially one selling cheap or substandard goods.
   • Among them are several distinct and peculiar street-characters, such as the pack-men, who carry their cotton or linen goods in packs on their backs, and are all itinerants. Then there are duffers, who vend pretended smuggled goods, handkerchiefs, silks, tobacco or cigars; also, the sellers of sham...1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861
4. (archaic) Cheap or substandard goods sold by a duffer.
5. (archaic) Anything substandard, such as a counterfeit or a defective instance.

   Synonyms:

   duff

6. (dated) A cow that does not produce milk or produces substantially less than her peers do.
   • We have some good cows in this State, but, unfortunately, we have too many duffer cows that are not only being fed and milked at a loss but are eating up a portion of the profit of the good cow which is being milked alongside them.1908, Proceedings of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago, volume 8, page 116

   Synonyms:

   strapper

See all 10 meanings of duffer