Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to hit.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Aug. 13/3: There was a young soldier, now hark’ee, / Who came down from Carcoar in khakee; / He got biffed in the jaw by his mother-in-law / And fled back to Carcoar in khakee.
1889		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 9 Nov. 3/2: [A] lady [...] came up smilingly and biffed her on the head with a fat club.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant I 111: Biff (Americanism), to give [one] a ‘biff in the jaw’.
1897		E.W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 25: She does biff me in de jaw, dough, and dat’s what sets me crazy.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 25 Sept. 3/2: I biff her till she’s silly / Then I cry until I’m blind.
1908		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Oct. 14/4: ‘So yer goin’ ter biff Maggie on ther boko, are yer? Now, see ’ere. If yer don’t cheese usin’ this ’ere bloomin’ slang I’ll dashed well lift yer one under the lug, d’yer ’ear me?’.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Language to a Lamp-Post’ Sporting Times 11 Jan. 1/3: Yet because one night he chanced to biff his bleary eye / And his ruddy nose against me, making lots of claret fly, / He used language which I daren’t repeat, though I’m not over shy, / And it must be strongish to upset a lamp-post!
1910		Magnet 3 Sept. 15: If you say another word I’ll biff you.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 238: ‘ [...] up and biff it with the maximum of violence and blood [...] up you get with a yell and you start to biff’.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 3 Jan. 11/3: [headline] Deodata Dazed. Brutally Biffed and Battered.
1916		P. Kyne Cappy Ricks 287: I suppose you’d just haul off and biff me one.
1922		‘Sapper’ Black Gang 297: While the bird biffs McIver, I biff the bird.
1925		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 19 Dec. 3/1: He’s always at yer elbow promptin’ the fist wot biffs a copper, the foot wot lobs in the old girl's tummy.
1936		R.L. Bellem ‘Falling Star’ in Spicy Detective Sept. 🌐 He biffed her wrists with the heel of his fist.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Social Error’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 449: Some copper [...] biffs him on the noggin with a blackjack.
1940		A.P. Herbert Let Us Be Glum (1941) 16: What shall we do to Musso when we’ve biffed his brother Hun?
1942		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 17 Jan. 19/1: Iona Varnum and Dorothy Prescott biffed one another around plenty the other sun time .
1945		‘Australianaise’ in Mess Songs & Rhymes of the RAAF 15: Biff the [bloody] foeman / Where it don’ agree .
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 127: Fate, having biffed you in the eye, proceeds to kick you in the pants.
1953		A. Buckeridge Jennings’ Diary 118: She’s biffing the wall on my side.
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 81: She threatened to bif him one if he didn’t stop.
1964		J. Berryman 77 Dream Songs 15: You can biff me, you can bang me, get it you’ll never.
1971		B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 74: He sighed, biffed one hand with the other.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 154: Lloyd biffed George in the nose, bloodying it, and Poke baffed him in the eye.
2000		Sun. Times News Rev. 12 Mar. 3: The only time he was ever ‘biffed’ inside was when he approached an inmate zapped on heroin.

2. to kill, to murder; thus biffed, killed.

1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Aug. 10/1: O Blessed Interpreter! / Scene – Suburban Police-court / [...] Witness: ‘Why, he meant he’d biff me if I squealed or turned dorg on him.’.
1941		N. Davis ‘Don’t Give Your Right Name’ in Goulart (1967) 19: Do you know anything about this bird that got biffed?

3. (Aus.) to throw; to throw out.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 July 11/2: When he had a pub., his clientèle consisted exclusively of burglars, and after selling beer for three months and paying nothing for it, he got ‘biffed out on the head’ by the brewer.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 3 Mar. 2/1: Am I to be biffed out on my ear again?
1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 31 Oct. 1/1: Some time ago [...] this club biffed a member named Barrington out on his pink ear and curly hair.
1926		Breton & Bevir Adventures of Mrs. May 56: ‘Well,’ ’e says, ‘I biff the sticks out when the rent ain’t paid.’.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 9: Biff, to throw.
1974		A. Pierrepoint Executioner 88: The train biffed me out into Euston Station at six o’clock in the morning.
2006		P. Shannon Davey Darling 30: He biffed his fag end in the hydrangea bush.

4. of a weapon, to fire.

1916		‘Anzac’ On the Anzac Trail 166: [Y]ou find yourself at the foot of the hill with a sniper biffing away at you and enjoying the joke.
1941		V. Hodgson Diaries (1999) 16 April 154: It is our night for a Big Raid – guns are biffing away for all they are worth.

5. (S.Afr. juv) to ejaculate.

2001

OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 biff v. ejaculate: ‘Mike couldn’t control it. Just as Anne opened his zip he biffed all over the place!’.

6. (US campus, also bif it, biff it) to fail (an examination); to fall causing embarrassment.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1991		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 1: biff – to be embarrassed by falling or tripping.
1997–2000		College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Biff (verb) To fall down, often with harsh consequences. [Seattle, Washington].
1997–2002		Hope College ‘Dict. of New Terms’ 🌐 bif v. intrans. The state of falling on the ground fast and painfully. Most commonly used by younger communities. ‘Don’t bif it,’ or in past tense, ‘Man, she really biffed it on her mountain bike while going down that huge hill!’.