To transfer or attempt to transfer (a patient or case); to eschew or avoid responsibility for.
Origin
From Middle English turf, torf, from Old English turf ("turf, sod, soil, piece of grass covered earth, greensward"), from Proto-West Germanic *turb, from Proto-Germanic *turbz ("turf, lawn"), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- ("tuft, grass"). Cognate with Dutch turf ("turf"), Middle Low German torf ("peat, turf") (whence German Torf and German Low German Torf), Swedish torv ("turf"), Norwegian torv ("turf"), Icelandic torf ("turf"), Russian трава ("grass"), Sanskrit दर्भ ("a kind of grass"), दूर्वा.
Modern English dictionary
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