spiff

/spɪf/

spiff adjective: neat, smartly dressed, attractive. Also the alternative form of spliff.

Adjective

spiff (comparative more spiff, superlative most spiff)

(Yorkshire, archaic, dialectal) Neat, smartly dressed, attractive.
- “Hah spiff he is to dāay!—he mud be bown tul a wedding!”
- “He’s spiff eniff for’t!”[1862, C. Clough Robinson, The Dialect of Leeds and Its Neighborhood, page 418

spiff (countable and uncountable, plural spiffs)

(uncountable) Attractiveness or charm in dress, appearance, or manner.
- Without a diploma, he relies on spiff alone to climb the corporate ladder.
(archaic, countable, slang) A well-dressed man; a swell.

Synonyms:

macaroni, popinjay, barbermonger, beau, blade, blood, buck, carpet knight, cockscomb, dandy
(countable, slang) A bonus or other remuneration, given for reaching a sales goal or promoting the goods of a particular manufacturer. Originally from textile retailing, a percentage given for selling off surplus or out-of-fashion stock, of which the sales person could offer part as a discount to a customer.
- The strongly-recommended piece of cloth was, in the conventional language of the drapery trade, a “spiff” in other words, a remnant of an old stock which had been lying by unsold for three or four years, perhaps longer, and had faded through keeping, like other beautiful things, thereby decreasing...1860 July 7, W.A.C.C., “A yard of ‘stuff’”, in The Players, page 3
- The premium takes the form of a commission on goods sold. In some places it is a small premium, or in trade parlance a “spiff” on certain articles, and on others on the amount of sales.1893, Royal Commission on Labor, The Employment of Women, page 313

spiff (third-person singular simple present spiffs, present participle spiffing, simple past and past participle spiffed)

(informal, transitive) (usually with up or out) To make spiffy (attractive, polished, or up-to-date)
- Oh, but we flatter ourselves that we are spiffed out; at all events, we've got our best dresses on.1874, William Schwenck Gilbert, Foggerty's Fairy
- This ensemble may be properly spiffed with a bolo tie, and topped off with a. . .1996, Coke Newell, Cow Chips Aren't for Dippin'
(slang, transitive) To reward (a salesperson) with a spiff or bonus.
- It is my confirmed belief that, spiffed or not, the salesman is the consumer's best-qualified and best- informed source of assistance in matters of component selection.1968, The Stereophile - Issue 2, page 26
- The flight to Baton Rouge was ten dollars more. He said not to worry about it. I spiffed the guy twenty bucks and ended up in Baton Rouge a day earlier than I had expected.2004, Robin Yocum, Dead before Deadline, page 266
(slang, transitive) To attach a spiff or bonus to the selling of (a product)
- It wasn't my fault if the blamed old store caught fire and gave me a chance to help Ferguson move out some of the stuff that has been 'spiffed' till it looks like red ink had been spilled all over the price-tags.1906, The American Magazine - Volume 62, page 497
- Because you can pull out a spiff anywhere you are in the store and the customers are not aware that they are spiffed shoes.1919, Boot and Shoe Recorder - Volumes 74-75, page 59

spiff is also the alternative form of spliff.

We dated boys who had their own cars and wow! what fancy cars they were—spiffed and buffed in bright '50s reds or turquoises.2005, Jill Larson Sundberg, Michael Larson, Babes Remember:
The company made more money, and so did the salesperson who was spiffed on the sale and he was selling a product that most people don't buy.2009, Dave Lakhani, How To Sell When Nobody's Buying:

29 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Adjective
comparative	more spiff
superlative	most spiff
Noun
plural	spiffs
Verb
third-person singular present	spiffs
present participle	spiffing
past participle	spiffed
past	spiffed

Unknown. See etymology discussion at spiffy.

28 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does spiff mean?: Spiff means neat, smartly dressed, attractive.
How do you use spiff in a sentence?: We dated boys who had their own cars and wow! what fancy cars they were—spiffed and buffed in bright '50s reds or turquoises.
What part of speech is spiff?: Spiff can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce spiff?: Spiff is pronounced /spɪf/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: spiff (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

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spiff.wav.

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