gaffle

/ˈɡæfl̩/

gaffle noun: a lever used to bend a crossbow.

Noun

gaffle (plural gaffles)

(obsolete) A lever used to bend a crossbow.
A steel spur attached to a gamecock (sometimes used figuratively).
- These birds, having been some time previous bereft of the weapons nature designed for their defence, are now fornished with gaffles, or artificial spurs, each of which is a polished steel blade , about three inches in length, half an inch wide at the base, curved slightly upwards, sharp at the...1860, George Palmer Putnam, Popping the Question: And Other Tales, page 295
- One sits with a harp at his lord's feet; another tames the wild hawk and trains him, teaches him with his little gaffles till the Welsh bird becomes docile.1880, Frederick Metcalfe, The Englishman and the Scandinavian, page 169
(historical) A portable fork of iron or wood in which the heavy musket formerly in use was rested that it might be accurately aimed and fired.
a fork in an orienteering race.

Verb (1)

gaffle (third-person singular simple present gaffles, present participle gaffling, simple past and past participle gaffled)

To equip with a gaffle or similar weapon.
- Now, sword or dagger, human arms are but artifical claws and fangs, tied on like false spurs to the fighting cock. So, we repeat, Oberlus, czar of the isle, gaffles his four subjects; that is, with intent of glory, puts four rusty cutlasses into their hands.1854, Herman Melville., The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles
- Blood doth not follow the law of the mountain stream, by getting more muddy as it descends; neither are men and women of the nature of the gaffled cocks we use to fight at the mains on the Inch of Perth, which send down their fighting propensities to the tenth gallinaccous generation.1889, J. M. Wilson, Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, page 39
to include a gaffle in an orienteering race.

Verb (2)

gaffle (third-person singular simple present gaffles, present participle gaffling, simple past and past participle gaffled)

To grab or seize
- They would grapple till they were tired, then stop; but as soon as one would start for the bears the other would gaffle him again.1949, Chase Salmon Osborn, Stellanova Osborn, Northwoods Sketches, page 29
- Just as he was going to throw the plug into the box, Jimmy's huge paw reached out and gaffled it.1951, Modern Power & Engineering - Volume 45, page 126
To get hold of, to find.
- Ye see, he knew there wasn't barely enough grazing for him on that oasis, and a short supply of dates for me, and he had gaffled onto that place and warn't going to let go for no black feller nor yet yeller.1905, Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards, The Armstrongs, page 197
- "Clever of ye," said Scattergood. "Naow, about Marjie's money. How'd ye manage to gaffle onto that?"1939, American Magazine - Volume 127, page 147
To arrest for criminal activity.
- Most forgers were “drunken checkers," men who had forged checks at taverns, although now and then someone would arrive who had hung a great deal of paper before getting gaffled.1953, Tom Runyon, In for Life, a Convict's Story, page 9696
- Ole Rooster, one of our best analytical minds and alleged phantom mover of The Outlaw, was gaffled up of a sudden and bussed out — not before he'd gotten his beautiful layout of info on the indeterminate sentencing law off to Cleaver's attorneys, though.1971, Robert J. Minton, Inside; Prison American Style, page 204
To steal
- I presume that one of them walked out to the back end to see if any one had been trespassing, and finding my trap had gaffled it.1906, Hunter-trader-trapper - Volume 10, page 73
- “That hooligan gaffled my wallet,” Seth told Mort, his breathing now back to near normal.2012, Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain, Murder, She Wrote: Domestic Malice
To swindle or bully (someone)
- In other words , you know the trouble around here — and this is pertinent , too — that there have been too many committees in which the minority has allowed itself to be gaffled into submission and silence.1958, René Albert Wormser, Foundations, Their Power and Influence, page 363
- They then stole a maroon Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight from a parking lot on Harvard Avenue and resumed their search for a victim to “gaffle."1994, North eastern reporter. second series - Volume 623, page 76
To talk without a purpose, usually about inane or pointless topics; to babble.
- So I commenced to yell, And old man Pease he hugged his knees and gaffled to his pail.1916, Holman Day, Up in Maine: Stories of Yankee Life Told in Verse, page 189
- The honey birds gaffle – I'm coming to you soon, I'm coming to you as they leave , and one insect starts to call, and will call all night, with the exact monotonous cheep-cheep of young English house-sparrows in June.1987, Seán Virgo, Selakhi, page 157

Examples of gaffle in a sentence

Conkling and Me Too Platt, by putting the gaffles into President Garfield, ruptured the Republican party from narrative to neckband, and the Democrats won in a walk.1906, William Cowper Brann, Brann, the Iconoclast, page 319:
He earned my contempt by carrying a pistol and drawing it on Senator Benton (known to be unarmed) in the Chamber, like a gaffled fowl in a cock-pit waiting provocation.1891, Josiah Bushnell Grinnell, Men and Events of Forty Years, page 62:
The nurse kep cool enough, but the menfolks fretted some; and the two ole hairpins gaffled holt of one another and plumped down onto their knees, prayin' for “deliv'rance from desaster !"1966, Will R. Davis, Zackary Adams, Village Down East, page 79:
They come on down, man, gaffled me up and put the cuffs on my hands.1994, Eugene P. Delorme, Inez Cardozo-Freeman, Chief: The Life History of Eugene Delorme, page 83:

Forms of gaffle

Noun
plural	gaffles
Verb
third-person singular present	gaffles
present participle	gaffling
past participle	gaffled
past	gaffled

Origin of gaffle

From Middle English gaffolle, a borrowing from Middle Dutch gaffel, gafel (“fork”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *gabulu (“fork”), related to Old English gafol, ġeafel (“fork”).

Blend of gaff + grapple.

Words that rhyme with gaffle

Questions about gaffle

What does gaffle mean?: Gaffle means a lever used to bend a crossbow.
How do you use gaffle in a sentence?: Conkling and Me Too Platt, by putting the gaffles into President Garfield, ruptured the Republican party from narrative to neckband, and the Democrats won in a walk.
What part of speech is gaffle?: Gaffle can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce gaffle?: Gaffle is pronounced /ˈɡæfl̩/.
What is the plural of gaffle?: The plural of gaffle is gaffles.

Words near gaffle in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: gaffle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “gaffle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gaffle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.