v. E. Angl. dial. [Imitative.]
1. intr. To fuss or bustle; to be in a flurry or in breathless haste.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, 321. I saw Mr. A. spuffling along.
1862. Borrow, Wild Wales, xix. He spuffled and sputtered in a most extraordinary manner.
1869. Spectator, 25 Dec., 1518. When a Suffolk man means to tell his friend that he is making … too much fuss about anything,… he says quietly, ‘Now don’t spuffle.’
2. trans. To utter thickly or indistinctly.
1861. Temple Bar, III. 292. He finds her with her mouth crammed full of food, and incapable of spuffling out a word.
Hence Spuffling vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1893. Cozens-Hardy, Broad Norf., 30. I am not sure whether spuffling is a practice peculiar to East Anglia.
1897. W. Rye, Norfolk Songs, 56. His spuffling overbearing ways did him harm.
