cuffing season

[ kuhf-ing see-zuhn ]

noun

, Slang.

1. a period during the fall and winter seasons, including holidays from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day, when people are more inclined to pair up in committed romantic relationships:

   I’m sitting out cuffing season this year—I was miserable tied down like that last winter.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cuffing season¹

First recorded in 2010–15

Example Sentences

As the annual tradition of pre-holidays “cuffing season” begins, “I’m finding people in my generation don’t even know what that is. I’m trying to explain it to them,” she says of the dating trend.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s turtlenecks and quality sweaters, buying decorative gourds for an evening dinner party and coupling up for cuffing season, if not longer term.

From Los Angeles Times

These circumstances gave birth to “cuffing season,” a social phenomenon in which single people look for short-term partnerships — aka a fling or someone to “Netflix-and-chill” with — to wait out the year’s colder months.

From Seattle Times

I’d also say that while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a short-term fling to keep you company a few nights a week when it’s cold outside, I would gently encourage singles, especially young people, to resist the urge to subscribe to “cuffing season.”

From Seattle Times

It's called cuffing season for a reason.

From Salon