From Scots scuff (“to touch lightly, graze, hit”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old Norse skúfa (“to shove, push aside”), from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną (“to shove”). Or, perhaps imitative. More at shove.
Meanings
(attributive, sometimes) A mark left by scuffing or scraping.
He flung his shoes across the room, their soles leaving black scuffs on the dingy wall. 2015, Charles W. Jones, Hydrangeas on the Lanai:
Someone left scuff marks in the sand.
The sound of a scuff or scrape.
All you could hear was the rhythmic scuff of Mr. Stink’s battered brogues as he walked slowly along the road 2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
(Australia, New-Zealand) A slipper.
(Scotland, uncommon) A (sudden) shower of rain or mist.
It was a dark, gloomy day, with black clouds driven by the wind, and scuffs of grey showers scudding among the hilltops. Presently lying couched amid the heather we saw the dragoons come marching loosely two and two,[…] 1895, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Men of the Moss-hags: Being a History of Adventure Taken from the Papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway and, page 313:
and when I got [to] the shoulder of the Craig yonder, cold scuffs of mist were reaching down from higher up, that told me how my view was to be spoiled, and warned me to mind my path. But I knew the heights; many a time have I been caught in the descending clouds, and a mist was like an old friend. 1902, Nicholas Dickson, William Sanderson, The Border Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, page 159:
When, having lunched, we breasted the climbing path in the early afternoon, the mists came down on Dollar Law, and across the valley drifted "scuffs" of soft rain that soaked us ere we topped the summit of the Bitch Craig. The grasses were top-heavy with beads of water, and rudely shook themselves over our boots as we squelched through them,[…] 1910, Nicholas Dickson, William Sanderson, The Border Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, page 52:
hu horzsolás (scraping, usually with one's feet) · pl szuranie (scraping, usually with one's feet) · hu karcolás (scraping, usually with one's feet) · hu kopás (scraping, usually with one's feet) · it sfregamento (scraping, usually with one's feet)
From Scots scuff (“to touch lightly, graze, hit”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old Norse skúfa (“to shove, push aside”), from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną (“to shove”). Or, perhaps imitative. More at shove.
Meanings
To scrape the feet while walking.
To scrape and roughen the surface of (shoes, etc.)
To hit lightly, to brush against.
Wallace threw himself at it to connect with a flying header. He looked a certain scorer but his effort scuffed the inside of Fraser Forster’s post. 2011 December 29, Keith Jackson, “SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0”, in Daily Record:
The lawns and gardens had been scuffed away. 1979, V. S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River:
To mishit (a shot on a ball) due to poor contact with the ball.
The Montenegro captain was finding space at will and followed up with a speculative shot that he scuffed wide, after Wales were slow in closing down the Juventus striker. 2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC:
Synonym of scrub in (“To break in new racing tires by doing a few gentle laps on them, with the resulting heat serving to remove factory coatings and provide better grip.”)
it mancare (to mishit) · hu csoszog (to scrape the feet while walking) · cs šourat se (to scrape the feet while walking) · pl chybiać (to mishit) · it sfregare (to scrape the feet while walking) · cs podřít (to scrape the surface) · pl porysować (to scrape the surface) · ru волочи́ть но́ги (to scrape the feet while walking) · pl zarysować (to scrape the surface) · it strusciare (to scrape the feet while walking) · cs ošoupat (to scrape the surface) · hu súrol (to scrape the surface) · pl chybić (to mishit) · cs šoupat nohama (to scrape the feet while walking) · bg тътря си краката (to scrape the feet while walking) · pl zarysowywać (to scrape the surface) · fi raahustaa (to scrape the feet while walking) · pl szurać (to scrape the feet while walking) · pl rysować (to scrape the surface) · uk човгати (to scrape the feet while walking) · es arrastrar (to scrape the feet while walking) · ru ша́ркать (to scrape the feet while walking) · cs odřít (to scrape the surface) · pl szurnąć (to scrape the feet while walking) · hu horzsol (to scrape the surface) · hu karcol (to scrape the surface) · hu megsért (to scrape the surface) · ro lufta (to mishit) · pt arrastar (to scrape the feet while walking) · fi laahustaa (to scrape the feet while walking)
One of the biggest and most redoubted of the Black Family was now in that seat of dignity, and, refusing surlily to yield it at Jasper's rude summons, was seized by the scuff of the neck, and literally hurled on the table in front. 1858, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do with It?: