biff

5 definitions found

biff - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  biff
      n 1: (boxing) a blow with the fist; "I gave him a clout on his
           nose" [syn: punch, clout, poke, lick, biff,
           slug]
      v 1: strike, usually with the fist; "The pedestrians pummeled
           the demonstrators" [syn: pummel, pommel, biff]

biff - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  BIFF
  B1FF
  
     /bif/ (Or "B1FF", from Usenet) The most famous pseudo, and
     the prototypical newbie.  Articles from BIFF are
     characterised by all uppercase letters sprinkled liberally
     with bangs, typos, "cute" misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD
     OLD BIFF CUZ HE'S A K00L DOOD AN HE RITES REEL AWESUM THINGZ
     IN CAPITULL LETTRS LIKE THIS!!!), use (and often misuse) of
     fragments of chat abbreviations, a long sig block
     (sometimes even a doubled sig), and unbounded naivete.  BIFF
     posts articles using his elder brother's VIC-20.  BIFF's
     location is a mystery, as his articles appear to come from a
     variety of sites.  However, BITNET seems to be the most
     frequent origin.  The theory that BIFF is a denizen of BITNET
     is supported by BIFF's (unfortunately invalid) electronic mail address
     : <BIFF@BIT.NET>.
  
     [1993: Now It Can Be Told!  My spies inform me that BIFF was
     originally created by Joe Talmadge <jat@cup.hp.com>, also the
     author of the infamous and much-plagiarised "Flamer's Bible".
     The BIFF filter he wrote was later passed to Richard Sexton,
     who posted BIFFisms much more widely.  Versions have since
     been posted for the amusement of the net at large. - ESR]
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (1997-09-22)
  

  biff
  
     /bif/ To notify someone of incoming mail.  From the BSD
     utility "biff(1)", which was in turn named after a friendly
     golden Labrador who used to chase frisbees in the halls at UCB
     while 4.2BSD was in development (it had a well-known habit
     of barking whenever the mailman came).  No relation to BIFF.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

biff - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  biff
   /bif/, vt.
  
     [now rare] To notify someone of incoming mail. From the BSD utility
     biff(1), which was in turn named after a friendly dog who used to
     chase frisbees in the halls at UCB while 4.2BSD was in development.
     There was a legend that it had a habit of barking whenever the
  mailman
     came, but the author of biff says this is not true. No relation to
     B1FF.
  

biff - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  72 Moby Thesaurus words for "biff":
     bang, bash, bat, beating, belt, blow, bonk, bop, catch, chop, clap,
     clip, clobber, clout, clump, coldcock, crack, cut, dash, deal,
     deal a blow, deck, dig, ding, dint, drub, drubbing, drumming,
     fetch, fetch a blow, fusillade, hit, hit a clip, jab, knock,
     knock cold, knock down, knock out, let have it, lick, nail, paste,
     pelt, plunk, poke, pound, punch, rap, slam, slog, slosh, slug,
     smack, smash, smite, snap, soak, sock, strike, strike at, stroke,
     swat, swing, swipe, tattoo, thump, thwack, wallop, whack, wham,
     whop, yerk