gaffle /ˈɡæfl̩/verb 8noun 4forms 3 verb8 •To grab or seizeThey would grapple till they were tired, then stop; but as soon as one would start for the bears the other would gaffle him again. — 1949 •To get hold of, to find."Clever of ye," said Scattergood. "Naow, about Marjie's money. How'd ye manage to gaffle onto that?" — 1939 •To arrest for criminal activity.Most forgers were “drunken checkers," men who had forged checks at taverns, although now and then someone would arrive who had hung a great deal of paper before getting gaffled. — 1953 •To stealI presume that one of them walked out to the back end to see if any one had been trespassing, and finding my trap had gaffled it. — 1906 •To swindle or bully (someone)They then stole a maroon Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight from a parking lot on Harvard Avenue and resumed their search for a victim to “gaffle." — 1994 •To talk without a purpose, usually about inane or pointless topics; to babble.So I commenced to yell, And old man Pease he hugged his knees and gaffled to his pail. — 1916 •to include a gaffle in an orienteering race. •To equip with a gaffle or similar weapon.He earned my contempt by carrying a pistol and drawing it on Senator Benton (known to be unarmed) in the Chamber, like a gaffled fowl in a cock-pit waiting provocation. — 1891 noun4 •A steel spur attached to a gamecock (sometimes used figuratively).One sits with a harp at his lord's feet; another tames the wild hawk and trains him, teaches him with his little gaffles till the Welsh bird becomes docile. — 1880 •a fork in an orienteering race. •(historical) A portable fork of iron or wood in which the heavy musket formerly in use was rested that it might be accurately aimed and fired. •(no longer used) A lever used to bend a crossbow. formsgaffled · gaffling · gaffles
