Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CUFF, n.¹ [Pers. قَفَا kafa, a blow; Ch. נקף id.; Ar. نَقَفَ nakafa, to strike; Heb. נקף, to strike off, to sever by striking, to kill. The French coup coincides with cuff in elements, but it is supposed to be contracted from It. colpo, L. colaphus. Cuff however agrees with the Gr. κοπτω.]

1. A blow with the fist; a stroke; a box. – Shak. Swift.
2. It is used of fowls that fight with their talons. – Johnson. To be at fisty-cuffs, to fight with blows of the fist.