[‘ /intr./ To emit an odour or smell, esp. an unpleasant one; to stink.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /nɪf/, U.S. /nɪf/
Forms: 19– *nif*, 19– *niff*.
Etymology:Perhaps < sniff v., with unexplained dropping of initial s-, but this does not have the sense ‘to emit an (unpleasant) odour’, or perhaps a blend of some word with initial n- and whiff n.1 3a (in which case niff n.2 may have been the earlier formation, despite the available evidence: whiff v.1 5b is rare).
It is also remarkable that niff, as a verb, is first recorded from a school in Derby, but as a noun, is attributed by Eng. Dial. Dict. to Sussex. This perhaps points to wider, undocumented distribution in regional English.
Chiefly Brit./ /colloq.
*1.* /intr./ To emit an odour or smell, esp. an unpleasant one; to stink.
1900 J. S. Farmer /Public School Word-bk./ 139 /Niff/, verb (Derby), to smell.
1927 W. E. Collinson /Contemp. Eng./ 23 Things didn’t smell, but ponged, niffed or hummed.
1950 A. Baron /There’s No Home/ v. 57 This ol’ street may niff a bit, but it don’t smell as bad as the water out of polluted wells.
1967 K. Giles /Death in Diamonds/ iv. 66 It smelled… ‘Niffs, don’t it?’ said one of the youths.
2000 /Scotsman/ (Electronic ed.) 31 May, Mel Gibson has been creating a bit of stink… His co-star Helen Hunt is complaining that Mel niffs a bit.
*2.* /trans./ To breathe in the odour or smell of; to smell or sniff out (esp. something unpleasant).
1930 C. R. Benstead /Retreat/ 124 Like an ol’ bull when e’ [/sic/] niffs a bit o’ cow.
1952 T. Armstrong /Adam Brunskill/ vii. 249 ‘I know lad,’ she agreed. ‘I’ve been out afore now to niff t’chimney smoke, an’ t’rabbit fur hides everything.’
1990 ‘J. Gash’ /Very Last Gambado/ (1991) xxi. 180, I began to feel edgy, certain now I could niff decaying antique dealer.
2000 /Herald (Glasgow)/ (Electronic ed.) 6 Sept., Down the years my nose has niffed, well just about everything mentionable in a family newspaper.