Crossword clues for piffle
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Piffle \Pif"fle\, n.
Act of piffling; trifling talk or action; piddling; twaddle.
[Dial. or Slang] ``Futile piffle.''
--Kipling.
Piffle \Pif"fle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Piffled; p. pr. & vb. n. Piffling.] To be sequeamish or delicate; hence, to act or talk triflingly or ineffectively; to twaddle; piddle. [Dial. or Slang]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1847, of unknown origin, perhaps an alteration of trifle, by influence of piddle, etc. Or perhaps imitative of a puff of air, with a diminutive suffix. As a noun by 1890.
Wiktionary
n. nonsense, foolish talk. vb. 1 To act or speak in a futile, ineffective, or nonsensical manner. 2 To waste, to fritter away. 3 (cx dated English) To be squeamish or delicate.
WordNet
n. trivial nonsense [syn: balderdash, fiddle-faddle]
v. speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly [syn: chatter, palaver, prate, tittle-tattle, twaddle, clack, maunder, prattle, blab, gibber, tattle, blabber, gabble]
act in a trivial or ineffective way
Usage examples of "piffle".
You stir the sea of thought--and brains think--or they think they think, which shows what piffle words are.
It will be a change to deal with something really illegal and not all the little piffling things that come my way.
This was no trifling exercise, no piffling conversation with a slow-minded human, Cecropian, or Hymenopt.
There was another traitor that everyone seemed to conveniently overlook, a man who'd befriended Chenaya, pretended to love her- He'd helped her shape the trap that had netted Zip that night, and he'd killed piffles right at her mistress's side.
You helped shape her plan, and you killed piffles right beside the rest of us.
When he stepped out into the heat again, the problems of a sickly car seemed piffling, and he set to solving them with a will.
So clever, my child, but he doesn't guess why that girl is forever ill with her piffling disorders.
From past experience, both women knew that any procedures involving the issuing or examination of documents usually took hours, sometimes the better part of a day - no matter how piffling the transaction might be.
But his breath—which he'd used to shatter the wall between Dominions—was so piffling now it went unfelt, and the fingers were withdrawn by the hand of Pie's consoler, who then reached down and drew the shroud back over Gentle's face.
But for the piffling form of it, I’d face them singlehanded, with no knights at my back, no father to serve as my front and weary me with counsel.