Dictionary

windcuffer en · NOUN

Etymology

From wind + cuffer, from cuff (“hit, slap”); compare windhover.

Meanings

1. (UK, dialectal, rare) The common kestrel.
   • An auld ram alone huddled against the wind, that had swept clear the skies even of eagle, windcuffer, and goose. The scent of saltwater rode the wind over the freshwater loch, and the dry field-grasses rattled, 2012, GMW Wemyss, Sensible Places: essays on place, time, & countryside →ISBN, in Wiltonshire, England), page 6
   • A windcuffer hovered overhead. 1980, Hamish M. Brown, Hamish's mountain walk: the first traverse, page 51:
   • I was gorse on the track beaconing the way, I was seal in the sea, braving the swell, I was windcuffer mounting the bitter winds, I was cloud billowing higher than Hoy. 2012, Caitlín Matthews (born in Portsmouth, England), Bone Song, in John Matthews, The Book of Celtic Verse: A Treasury of Poetry, Dreams & Visions →ISBN

Forms