off the cuff meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

off the cuff

prep_phrasealso spelled off-the-cuff

Etymology Purported to be from the habit by after-dinner speakers of jotting a few notes on the cuff of the sleeve.

In an off-the-cuff manner.

Nor was there anything off the cuff about their insistence that Manuel Pellegrini was happy to make the name of his replacement public knowledge, echoing his sentiment that they were “not doing anything behind me” from a press conference earlier in the same day.2016 February 2, Lee Roden, “Premier League: From Pellegrini to Pep - Why the Engineer made City the ideal destination for Guardiola”, in Yahoo Sport:
McCartney is a showman, not a script-reader. His banter Friday night was fresh, off the cuff.2026 March 29, Matt Mitchell, “In LA, Paul McCartney is king”, in AV Club:

adj

Etymology From the prepositional phrase off the cuff.

Idiomatic Extemporaneous; without prior preparation; spontaneous; impromptu.

He made a few off-the-cuff remarks before launching into his prepared speech.
Off-the-Cuff Obama Line Put U.S. in Bind on Syria [title]2013 May 5, Peter Baker, Mark Landler, David E. Sanger, Anne Barnard, “Off-the-Cuff Obama Line Put U.S. in Bind on Syria”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

2 more examples

Trump’s Off-the-Cuff Tweets Strain Foreign Ties [title]2017 June 4, Peter Baker, “Trump’s Off-the-Cuff Tweets Strain Foreign Ties”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
Even when people are trying to sell you something, their messages seem off-the-cuff, like trustworthy recommendations rather than sponsored shilling.2021 October 2, John Herrman, “Will TikTok Make You Buy It?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for off the cuff and off-the-cuff.