caff en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /kæf/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Clipping of cafeteria.
Meanings
-
(Ireland, UK, slang) Synonym of café.
No one in Mariposa had ever seen anything like the caff. All down the side of it were the grill fires, with great pewter dish covers that went up and down on a chain, […]; you could watch a buckwheat pancake whirled into existence under your eyes and see fowls' legs devilled, peppered, grilled, and tormented till they lost all semblance of the original Mariposa chicken.
1912, Stephen Leacock, “The Hostelry of Mr. Smith”, in Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, page 27:McCormack dressed in his second-best suit and walked down the hill to a caff on Dumbarton Road.
2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 200:After working his way up in restaurant kitchens, Nick's father bought a caff off the Walworth Road, and named it The Bosphorus in homage to a cultural homeland elsewhere.
2012, Suzanne Hall, City, Street and Citizen, Routledge, →ISBN, page 52:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| caf | alternative | lexicographic | |
| caffs | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Synonyms
hotel · eatery · café · cookshack · canteen · caff · luncheonette · restaurant · noshery · cafeteria · dining hall · hashery · buffet · beanery · lunchroom · automat · diner · cookhouse