faff

noun

1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang)An overcomplicated task, especially one perceived as a waste of time.

   “Adjusting this television is a bit of a faff.”

   “God it must be a faff having to get nigh-on naked every time your bladder runneth over, and imagine how much worse it must be if you only have a 20-second break to run off stage to the loo.”

   “Breakfast in bed at the royal household is a massive faff. A page boy must carry the tray upstairs, but he's banned from actually serving it. So he leaves it on the floor by the bedroom door, whereupon a housemaid picks it up and knocks on said portal.”

   “The fuss and faff meant Christmas had long since been drained of any joy and excitement.”

   “The show is a carefully curated manifesto of “social success without faff”.”

2. A state of confused or frantic activity.

   “She's in a total faff about tonight's dinner party.”

   “I knew May would be in a faff, and I was right. […] Half an hour later (still with plenty of time because I’d known there would be this fuss) we left with May clad in black.”

3. (UK, obsolete)A puff of smoke; a gust of wind.

   ““Shut t’ door, wilt-tu,” said Widow Goggin sharply; “thou’rt letting in faffs o’ wind. And tak’ thi shawl off.””

verb

1. (colloquial, intransitive)To blow in puffs, blow gently.
2. (archaic, transitive)To move (something) with a puff of air, to blow away.

   “Time wi’ his scythe hed mawn t’crop on his heead, An’ then fafft it away wi’ his wing.”

3. (Australia, British, Ireland, New-Zealand, intransitive)To waste time on an unproductive activity.

   “Stop Faffing And Just Do It”

   “Frontier knows you're going to be spending a lot of time building coasters and faffing with scenery, so it doesn't want you fighting fires constantly.”