Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a black person, usu. in patronizing/derog. use; thus cuffyism, black society.

1713		Sewall 28 May in Thomas Diary of Samuel Sewall (1973) II 717: He must take Pills. I press’d him, and came away with some hope; obliged Cuffee to call for him.
1755		J. Hempsted Diary 656: An Indian freewoman wife to Mr. Tilley’s Negro Cuff died [DA].
1805		J. Davis Post Captain (1813) 87: A couple of negroes, Jack and Cuffey, rowed our canoe.
1811		Cobbett’s Wkly Register 30 Nov. 8/1: We almost blubber out loud at hearing recounted the sorrows of Cuffee and Quashee and their sable offspring.
1825		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 17 July 194/3: [from US courts] THE LOVES OF THE ‘NIGGERS.’ [...] Phillis Schoonmaker v. Cuff Hogeboon. [...] The parties as their names2 indicate, are black, or, as philanthropists would say, coloured folk.
1827		Hamel, Obeah Man I 3: His mouth [...] was furnished with a set of short but regular teeth, as white as those of Cuffy.
1829		Morning Courier (N.Y.) 15 June 1/6: The Negroes keep their jubilee; While Cuffee, with protruding lip, Bravuras to the darky’s skip [DA].
1833		J. Neal Down-Easters I 95: I never could exactly understand [...] why the colored Americans are called cuffees.
1834		Albany Microscope (NY) 17 May n.p.: Doctor.— ‘I’ll leave it to Cuff. Here Cuff. Cuff.— Well massa.
1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. II 13: I gin a cuffy on the wharf two cents to go and get a carriage for me.
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 11 Jan. 1/6: ‘Cuff,’ (said one of those dignitaries to a negro at his side) ‘Cuff, you are a good honest fellow, andI like to compliment a man wot’s led an honest life, even if he is a black’.
1846		Bell’s Life in Sydney 26 Sept. 4/1: The husband swore that Cuffy was consistently threatening.
1848		Boston Blade 10 June n.p.: Cuff stood [...] with shining polished ivory, as well as the whites of his eyes.
1856		‘Q.K. Philander Doesticks’ Plu-ri-bus-tah 126: Then, at once, squared off at Cuffee, / Instantly ‘sailed into’ Cuffee; / And he whaled away at Cuffee.
c.1858		J.H. Green Reformed Gambler 133: Cuffy roared and capered about with delight, showing the whole breadth of his whites — his eyes opening to an extraordinary magnitude, and his nose flattened like a viper.
1862		E.W. Pearson Letters from Port Royal 27: We asked Cuffy if they considered the ‘shout’ as part of their religious worship.
1863		Nashville Daily Union 26 June 2/4: Negroes have been detected coming out of the city with notes to friends [...] carefully secreted in the convenient depth of Cuffy’s wool.
1864		Courier (Natchez, MS) 23 Aug. col. 3 in A.P. Hudson Humor of the Old Deep South (1936) n.p.: Several of the foot ‘cuffs’ being ‘dead-blowed’ with heeling it fer corner’.
1867		Atlantic Monthly Nov. 600/1: After the play, Rice, having shaded his own countenance to the ‘contraband’ hue, ordered Cuff to disrobe [DA].
1874		Daily Democrat (Sedalia, MO) 23 Oct. 1/8: The more you pay Cuffy the more he wants.
1884		R.C. Hartranft Journal of Solomon Sidesplitter 98: ‘Why do you think so, Cuffee?’ ‘Well, I tell you – kaze she shines by night.’ [...] ‘Well, Cuff, you is the greatest nigger I knows on.’ [Ibid.] 110: Well, Cuffy, it can’t get no hotter in our house.
1894		T. Banbury Jamaica Superstitions 43: Money Cuffie: a fellow who can afford it, and rather makes a boast of his means.
1899		Record-Union (Sacramento, CA) 12 Nov. 8/3: Cuffey, a negro.
1905		J.G. Cruickshank Negro Humour 78: Quashie or Cuffie. — Old African names applied to the Negro.
1922		(con. mid-19C) A. Gonzales Black Border 89: Very dear to their hearts was the evolution of ‘Cuffee,’ ‘Cudjo’ and ‘Sancho’ of slavery, into ‘Mistah Scott,’ ‘Mistah Hawlback’ and ‘Mistah Middletun,’ of freedom.
1928		E.C.L. Adams ‘Old Mammy’ in Nigger to Nigger 119: Ole Cuffey is still feelin’ ’round in de dark.
1934		Z.N. Hurston Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1995) 29: They tore away his clothes that Cuffy might bring nothing away, but Cuffy seized his drum.
1935		Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 93: Sat’day night come and Ole Cuffee went up to de white man to git his pay.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS 134/1: cuffee n. A Negro. A genuine African word.
1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: cuff n. a black man.
1983		(con. 18C–19C) I.L. Allen Lang. of Ethnic Conflict 47: Given Personal Names: cuffee, -y [1713, down to 1880s. Also cuff. Cuddy seems to be a later alteration. From the West African day name, Cuffee, -y, for a male child born on Friday].
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 279: Other generics include: [...] Cuffy, a black man.

2. a bear.

1814		H.M. Brackenridge Views of Louisiana and Journal 211: They chased a she bear into a hollow tree; we set about chopping the tree [...] madam Cuff again appeared.
1824		J. Doddridge Notes 21: When the bear approached him, he sprang out, and hallooed at him; but cuffee, instead of running off as he expected, jumped at him with mouth wide open [DA].
1831		Illinois Monthly July 452: Cuff being able to see his enemies, and satisfied of his own safety, began to act on the offensive [DA].
1861		R.F. Burton City of the Saints 422: A bear-trap [...] a dwarf hut, with one or two doors, which fall when cuffy tugs the bait from the figure of 4 in the centre.
1892		J.C. Duval Young Explorers 123: There ain’t but one way to git cuffy out’n that hole, and that is to smoke him out.

3. (W.I.) a fool, a gullible person.

1943, 1955

in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).