scuffle

Meanings

Noun

• A rough, disorderly fight or struggle at close quarters.
• A child's pinafore or bib.
• A Dutch hoe, manipulated by both pushing and pulling.

Verb

• To fight or struggle confusedly at close quarters.
• To walk with a shuffling gait.
• To make a living with difficulty, getting by on a low income, to struggle financially.

Related

Similar words

• scuffle hoe

Origin

• Possibly of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin; compare Swedish skuff ("a push") and skuffa, from the Proto-Germanic base *skuf-, from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-, see also Lithuanian skùbti ("to hurry"), Polish skubać ("to pluck"), Albanian humb ("to lose").
• A borrowing from Dutch schoffel.