Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also tift) a fit of temper.

1727		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. II n.p.: Tiff, [...] also a small Fit of Anger, etc .
1739		R. Bull Grobianus 102: Returning homewards in a furious Tiff.
1859		E. Eden Semi-Detached House (1979) 149: Why that little Lord John’s such a tease, / If I ask him to dance, he turns off in a tiff.
1863		G.A. Sala Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous 210: My capricious Master flies into a Tiff.
1888		S.O. Addy Sheffield Gloss. 259: Tift or Tiff, a huff, a fit of temper.

2. (also tift) a petty quarrel, esp. an argument between lovers.

1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 623: His friend Cadwallader, with whom he still maintained his former intimacy, though it was now checquered with many occasional tifts, owing to the sarcastic remonstrances of the Misanthrope.
1753		Richardson Sir Charles Grandison (1812) I 29: My lord and I have had another little – tiff, shall I call it? it came not up to a quarrel.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 174: Tiff — ‘a tiff,’ is to take offence at small cause, or none at all; these are sulky hounds and proud ones.
1837		Thackeray Yellowplush Papers in Works III (1898) 306: She acted as the reglar pease-maker between them, as I’ve shown in the tiff which took place.
1848		G.F. Ruxton Life in the Far West (1849) 57: They became [...] ‘awful fond,’ and consequently about once a-week had their tiffs and makes-up.
1858		National Rev. vii 395: In comparison with such words or gestures, George IV’s quarrel with Brummel was an ordinary tiff.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 395/2: O, we have a little tiff now and then, sir, as women will, you know.
1873		R. Broughton Nancy III 249: I have broken into easy tears at some silly tiff with the others.
1887		Ally Sloper’s half-Holiday 30 July 3/2: ‘Our First Tiff’ — ‘Oh false one!’ she wailed [...] ‘Our love is a thing of the past’.
1891		Boys Of The Empire 24 Aug. 362: He guessed there had been a ‘tiff.’.
1900		Marvel 12 Dec. 11: You remember that little tiff we had out on Benmouth Cliffs, sonny?
1910		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Longevity Jujubes’ Sporting Times 23 July 1/3: A lady, well primed for a ‘tiff,’ / Darted in at full speed, seized the cove with the ‘weed,’ / And said, ‘Come to the home you have wrecked!’.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 330: The girl chums had of course their little tiffs from time to time.
1929		W. Winchell Your Broadway & Mine 23 Feb. [synd. col.] [used joc. of a boxing match] Those two murderous rounds of the Dempsey-Firpo tiff.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 52: True, they had their little tiffs.
1938		W. Watson Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (2000) 121: Just a lover’s tiff. Forgotten as soon as they saw each other again.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 113: There had been a little tiff between himself and Valerie.
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 30: A little tiff with one of the boys at the club?
1955		E. Hunter Blackboard Jungle 258: I don’t like tiffs in my school family, Mr Dadier.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 2: Da coppers usta object ta double barrel shotguns blowin’ blokes heads orf; but if ya stuck t’ya 45’s it wuz only considered a domestic tiff.
1977		A. Ayckbourn Ten Times Table I i: Charlotte and I just had the smallest tiff this evening.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 269: Lover’s tiff, was it?
1992		D. Jarman diary 29 June Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 159: Perhaps this artistic tiff was a way of saying: ‘I’m independent of you.’.
2000		Guardian G2 17 Feb. 7: It was just a tiff – all ended well.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 225: ‘Your legendary tiff with Johnnie Ray’.