1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 32. The first thing they do at a gaff is to look for a room clear of company.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. The drop coves maced the joskins at the gaff; the ring-droppers cheated the countryman at the fair.
1821. Haggart, Life, p. 22. We stopped at this place two days, waiting to attend the gaff.
1823. Jon. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, etc., s.v. A fair is a gaff as well as all the transactions enacted there.
2. (common).—A cheap, low music-hall or theatre; frequently penny-gaff, Cf., quot. 1823, sense 1. Also dookie. Fr., un beuglant (= a low music-hall; beugler = to bellow); un bouisbouis (boui = brothel); une guinche (popular). See also quot. 1889.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., p. 46. They court for a time, going to raffles and gaffs together, and then the affair is arranged.
1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 68. A gaff is a place where stage plays, according to the strict interpretation [[97]]of the term, may not be represented. The actors of a drama may not correspond in colloquy, only in pantomime; but the pieces brought out at the gaff are seldom of an intricate character, and the not over-fastidious auditory are well content with an exhibition of dumb-show and gesture.
1870. Orchestra, 18 Feb. The absolute harm done by these gaffs does not consist in the subjects represented.
1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S. vii., p. 395. I have often heard the British soldier make use of the word when speaking of the entertainment got up for his benefit in barracks.
3. (prison).—A hoax; an imposture. Cf., Fr., gaffe = joke, deceit.