Word.ws English Dictionary

penny-gaff

penny-gaff is the alternative form of penny gaff.

Meaning of penny gaff

Noun

penny gaff (plural penny gaffs)

  1. (historical) An entertainment in 19th-century England consisting of short theatrical displays such as dancing, singing, clowning, and plays.
    • My dear sirs, did you actually imagine that one could not follow every clumsy move you made, with Joolby's low comedy tramp and the other two stealing in like a couple of hired assassins in a penny gaff melodrama?1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
    Synonyms:
    dukey

Forms of penny-gaff

pluralpenny-gaffs

Questions about penny-gaff

What is penny-gaff the alternative form of?
Penny-gaff is the alternative form of penny gaff.

Words near penny-gaff in the dictionary

  1. penny-dreadfulism
  2. penny-farthing
  3. penny-farthings
  4. penny-father
  5. penny-fathers
  6. penny-gaff
  7. penny-grass
  8. penny-in-the-slot machine
  9. penny-in-the-slot machines
  10. penny-pig
  11. penny-pigs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: penny-gaff (page history and authors); penny gaff (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.

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