What (who) is faff - definition
faff
(faffs, faffing, faffed)
• faff about or faff around
If you say that someone is faffing about or faffing around, you mean that they are doing things in a disorganized way and not achieving very much. (BRIT INFORMAL)
It was annoying to watch them faffing around when a more direct response was required.
PHRASAL VERB: V P
faff
To put something off for a extensive amount of time until it has been forgotten, hence it is no longer important.
Sarah, stop faffing and get on with it.
Sarah, stop faffing and get on with it.
faff {{Brit. }}
faff Brit.
informal
¦ verb spend time in ineffectual activity.
¦ noun ineffectual activity.
Origin
C18 (orig. dialect in the sense 'blow in puffs', describing the wind): imitative.
Pronunciation examples for faff
1. I didn't faff around.
How to Have A Happy Hustle _ Bec Evans _ Talks at Google
2. And it's just too much of a faff.
The Lessons We Learned from Eighties Movies _ Hadley Freeman _ Talks at Google
3. because she did tend to faff on a bit near the end.
ted-talks_1811_AdamSpencer_2013-320k
Examples of use of faff
1. I‘d wanted to be at home with her, but I had a real faff–brain – I got very cardigan.
2. We faff about with mobiles, the internet and the rest, and we are locked into cultural dependence on TV; but we still love the radio.
3. Dr Gregory House Infectious disease specialist, House The problem with many TV doctors is they faff about until the closing scenes before diagnosis.
4. The former are generally less content since they feel obliged to check every option, and thus the more abundant the available choices the more they faff and fret.
5. She hugs the violent girl, murmuring my little Rebecca!, is strict but fond, never rejects a child but does not faff around talking about outcomes and appropriateness or quoting the Human Rights Act and then fouling up comprehensively like the services which failed Victoria Climbi.