off the cuff

See also: off-the-cuff

English

Etymology

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

Prepositional phrase

off the cuff

1. In an off-the-cuff manner.
   • 2016 February 2, Lee Roden, “Premier League: From Pellegrini to Pep - Why the Engineer made City the ideal destination for Guardiola”, in Yahoo Sport‎^[1]:

     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.

   • 2026 March 29, Matt Mitchell, “In LA, Paul McCartney is king”, in AV Club‎^[2]:

     McCartney is a showman, not a script-reader. His banter Friday night was fresh, off the cuff.

Derived terms

• off-the-cuff (adjective)

Translations

in an off-the-cuff manner

• German: aus dem Stegreif, ohne nachzudenken, aus dem Stand, aus dem Handgelenk (de)
• Polish: z miejsca (pl), z marszu (pl)
• Spanish: impromptu (es)

See also

• on the cuff