duff
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dʌf/
ipa: /dɐf/
ipa: /dʊf/
rhymes: -ʌf
Forms: form: duffs
Etymology: Uncertain; probably related to Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).
Senses: examples: text: Forest fires have often been started from wantonness; for the sake of making a big blaze, fires will be carelessly left by guides, or will be smouldering in the duff,* where it will burn for weeks. I have seen the smoke from fires in the duff even after the snow has fallen.
* Local term for the vegetable growth covering the forest ground of the Adirondacks. under the spruce trees, the falling needles accumulate to considerable depth, forming the "spruce duff," a peculiar and interesting variety of forest humus.
ref: 1886, Annual Report of the Forest Commission of the State of New York:
text: These methods also make it possible for the forest officer to describe and to record his observations in precise terms such as “6% percent duff moisture” rather than in generalities such as “pretty dry duff.”
ref: 1935, "New Equipment for Obtaining Host Material for the Mass Production of Trichogramma Minutum, an Egg Parasite of Various Insect Pests" by Herbert Spencer, Luther Brown, Arthur M. Phillips (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
text: Depth of litter and duff under the crown of each tree was measured at a point that appeared to represent average depth. Bulk samples of litter (including duff) were taken under four pinyons and three junipers, and ovendried.
ref: 1979, "Estimating pinyon and juniper fuel and biomass from aerial photographs" by Richard O. Meeuwig, Elwood LaVern Miller, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station (USDA Forest Service)
text: 1991, "Woody Fuel and Duff Consumption by Prescribed Fire in Northern Idaho Mixed Conifer Logging Slash" from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
The moisture content of the deep pockets of rotten wood was much greater than of the litter-derived duff layer.
text: Out under the trees, some rangers had found enough duff and dry wood to start a fire beneath a slanting ridge of slate.
ref: 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 366:
text: The underfooting is mostly duff and sand, through alternating forest and meadow.
ref: 2006, Kathy Morey, Mike White, Stacey Corless, Sierra South: Backcountry Trips in Californias Sierra Nevada, page 250:
text: Their task was to carry out a prescribed burn--a carefully controlled, low-intensity fire that clears duff and deadwood, reducing the risk of a catastrophic wildfire.
ref: 2019, Nicola Twilley, “Trailblazers”, in The New Yorker:
glosses: Decaying vegetable matter on the forest floor.
glosses: Coal dust, especially that left after screening or combined with other small, unsaleable bits of coal.
examples: text: The great bulk of the coal burnt under our boilers is duff of a very small size, and a mixed coal of duff, peas, and small nuts.
ref: 1917, William Henry Fowler, The Mechanical Engineer:
glosses: Fine and dry coal in small pieces, usually anthracite.
glosses: A mixture of coal and rock.
glosses: The bits left in the bottom of the bag after the booty has been consumed, like crumbs.
synonyms: duffer
glosses: Something spurious or fake; a counterfeit; a worthless thing; a defective thing.
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glosses: An error.