Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a moustache.

1917		Stretcher (Camel Brigade Field Ambulance) Mar. 9/2: Z is for ‘Ziff,’ which appears on the lip; / To call it a ‘mo’ would give one the pip.
1926		Truth (Brisbane) 1 Aug. 20/5: The coffee strainer is another good whisker for general purposes. [...] Beer drinkers developed a great, sucking effect with this ziff, and tooth-brushes were unnecessary.

2. a supporter of conscription in WWI.

[1917		Herald (Melbourne) 4 May 1/2: If you do not favor any of the candidates write the word ‘Ziff’ across your ballot-paper and place it in the ballot-box. The returning officer will understand what you mean].
1917		Telegraph (Brisbane) 27 Apr. 5/2: A man with a weak voice attempted to argue with Mr. Plane that conscription was the issue, but he broke down with a groan. Mr. Plane denied that conscription was an issue. Five ‘count outs’ followed, three being in figures, the fourth in ‘zifs,’ and the fifth in ‘rats’.
1918		Dly Standard (Brisbane) 28 Feb. 4/5: The strain of the letter suggests that the writer [...] thought she was writing to one of that type of certain conscriptionists, commonly known as ‘Ziffs’ .
1918		Worker (Brisbane) 7 Feb. 13/2: Old men make wars and send young men to fight ’em - / Let all the dead and maimed beauty indict ’em. / All the old Ziffs on the telephones prattling, / While youth dies to horror of Lewie guns rattling.

3. (Aus./N.Z.) a beard.

1918		W.A. Sportman (Perth) 26 Apr. 4/4: Harry Sadler is cultivating a ‘ziff’.
1919		Euroa Advertiser (Vic.) 24 Dec. 4/5: In San Francisco [...] he was acting as Father Christmas in a shop window, when his artificial whiskers caught fire, and he bolted with blazing ‘ziff’.
1920		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 5 June 7/2: Browney’ll be growing a ziff next. What’s it going to be ’ a tassy or a pongo? [...] ‘tassy,’ toothbrush moustache; ‘pongo,’ flowing moustache.
1924		C.J. Dennis ‘Stone the Crows’ in Rose of Spadgers 122: ’E lobbed in on us sudden, ziff an’ all.
1924		Sun. Times (Perth) 24 June 17/3: A young gentleman with enough ziff on his cheek to make a brush [...] meekly asks for a half-fare.
1929		Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld) 19 Sept. 53/2: A Ziff and Bonnet dance was held in the Oddfellows’ Hall [...] The prize for the best ziff went to Mr T. Pill.
1939		Franklin & Cusack Pioneers on Parade 87: His vast ziff.
1944		West Australian (Perth) 6 May 2/2: It’s all very well for ther Walrus — he can hide behind his ziff.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 165: A bloke with a ziff went past, stopped a few yards on and looked back. ‘Keep going, beardie!’ I snarled.
1968		J. O’Grady Gone Troppo (1969) 152: That ziff of yours would go well under a sombrero.
1973		M. Harris Angry Eye 116: The late lamented Joe Stalin’s ziff.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 88: Pioneer great grandfather posed with his resplendent ‘ziff’ often reaching to the level of his floral or patterned waistcoat.

4. a bearded person and/or (stereotypically) an older man.

1920		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 June 9/4: I dined in Downing-street the other night; / Milner was host: polite enough, but stiff. / To-morrow I am fixed to eat a bite / With - hang it, I forget him; some old ziff.
1922		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 2 Dec. 18/2: ‘Milky’ White [...] ran away with his heat, totally unbacked, barring by one old ziff, who had a quid on him.
1924		Truth (Brisbane) 6 Jan. 19/4: Most all grown-ups have read Corbett’s ‘Advice to Young Men,’ but who ever asks for ‘Mimosa’s’ book, ‘Advice to the Ziffs?’.
1926		L. Esson Bride of Gospel Place 109: [of barristers] Smithy: You should have seen me mount the peter and back-chat the ziffs.