windcuffer

English

Etymology

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

Noun

windcuffer (plural windcuffers)

  1. (Britain dialectal, originally Orkney, rare) The common kestrel.
    • 1980, Hamish M. Brown, Hamish's mountain walk: the first traverse, page 51:
      A windcuffer hovered overhead.
    • 2012, GMW Wemyss, Sensible Places: essays on place, time, & countryside →ISBN, in Wiltonshire, England), page 6:
      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, Caitlín Matthews (born in Portsmouth, England), Bone Song, in John Matthews, The Book of Celtic Verse: A Treasury of Poetry, Dreams & Visions →ISBN:
      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.

Usage notes

Originally used in the dialect of Orkney,[1][2][3] the term has more recently been used by a few writers from southern England.

References

  1. ↑ George Barry, History of the Orkney Islands (1805)
  2. ↑ John Jamieson, An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1818)
  3. ↑ H. Kirke Swann, Dictionary of English and Folk-Names of British Birds (1913)
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