Stella introduced me to a new word in the "limerick Game: Gibraltar" after I chose her as the winner.

She said she was "chuffed" at being selected. I looked it up and found it was British informal and had two meanings.

1 pleased, delighted, gratified, etc.
2 disgruntled, displeased, unhappy, etc.

I have to wonder, and I am wondering now, exactly which definition she meant to use in her post. Is she happy she won, or displeased at having to conduct the next game? What do those in the UK choose as the more common usage?

Stand by for her next post to find out what she meant.

And how about submitting some limericks for her to judge.

And I missed it, Proofreader. So sorry!

How can a word mean "pleased" and "displeased" at the same time? I know that some words have evolved that way (like "peruse"); is this similar?

Going to the OED, there are lots of definitions for the word. Here are a few:

~ a rustic, boor, clown, churl
~ a miser
~ a cheek swollen or puffed; chubby
~ the buttocks or backside; the anus
~ pleased, satisfied, happy
~ gruff, stern, morose
~ repeated sharp puffing sound

Then there's chuffing, chuffer, chuffily, and chuffy.

I've never heard chuffed to mean "displeased". Over here I've only ever heard it to mean "pleased" and that's how I'd always understand it. I have sometimes heard the jocular back-formation "dischuffed".

Like Bob, I've only ever heard it to mean "pleased". Of the other definitions posted by Kalleh, I've only come across the "repeated sharp puffing sound" one.

I've also seen "chuff" used when referring to a type of bird, the Chough.

What Arnie said.

Likewise.

I just think it's odd, though, that the documented definitions are opposites (in the OED). there are seven definitions for the word, with three nouns, two adjectives, and two verbs. The n.1, with the definition being "a rude coarse churlish fellow; a miser; a close avaricious man" has this etymology: "Origin unknown. In 17th c. sometimes spelt chough by confusion with, or play on, the name of the bird." Other entries for etymology say "unknown" or "Obs. exc. dial.". The two adjective definitions are either "surly, churlish, gruff, stern, morose" or "pleased, satisfied, happy."

My COED has:

chuff - v. intr. (of a steam engine etc.) work with a regular sharp puffing sound

Chuffed - adj. Br slang delighted.

I would imagine that the other definitions are obsolete.