To shoot one's cuffs is an idiom for "showing off." The term refers to the habit that some men had of flicking their wrists in order to show the cuffs of their sleeves, and the cufflinks. According the to the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins (by William and Mary Morris, HarperCollins, NY, 1977, 1988), the phrase "goes back to the days when celluloid collars and cuffs were the salesman's answer to the laundry problem when on the road. With the high-buttoned jackets of the period, the collar and cuffs were all that showed, and since celluloid could be wiped clean with a damp cloth, a shirt could be made to last a week." Dandies would like to ostentationsly show their cuffs in a sudden and showy way.
It is also called "to shoot one's linen" in an unnecessary display of shirt cuff.
One who is unable to throw his wrists gracefully may try another way to shoot cuffs: with the thumb and forefinger of one hand pull sharply on the sleeve of the other arm, to expose the cuff, and then switch hands and repeat.
Last updated: February 17, 2005.
