- Example: "Terran used to be the best in Starcraft, but the designers have nerfed them to hell in the next game." Nerf likely references the popular line of toy guns and weapons: Nerf Guns. These toys mimic actual firearms but are meant as toys, and are therefore harmless in comparison to actual guns. The brandname was then adopted to mean a process by which something deadly or powerful like a gun is made to be harmless, analogous to the comparison between real guns and Nerf toy guns.
Nerf
verb; analogy
To weaken in power or potency, to lessen the severity of, specifically in reference to video- or computer-game context.
Etymology : From the Nerf company, designers of toy weapons, metaphorically associated with concept of weakening.
Source : Online gaming, 2000s
Last modified: 2 December 2011