raffs

Noun (1)

raff (countable and uncountable, plural raffs)

1. (dated) A disorderly heap; a jumble; a large quantity
   • A raff of errors.1680, Isaac Barrow, A Discourse Concerning The Unity Of The Church
2. (dated) lumber or refuse.
   • [a hut] was fashioned of the raff of the slough—dead fronds, rotting branches, withered marsh grasses. Its sad gray-green were in the living wilderness like a monument to death.1923, Joel Townsley Rogers, Weird Tales, Hark! The Rattle!

   Synonyms:

   flotsam

3. (plural, uncountable) The common rabble or mob; riffraff.
   • Jostling with unemployed labourers of the lowest class, ballast-heavers, coal-whippers, brazen women, ragged children, and the raff and refuse of the river, he makes his way with difficulty along […]1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
4. (dated) A common, crass or low-standing person. Alternatively, a snob.
   • English raffs of every description1860 June 30, Charles Dickens, All the Year Round

   Synonyms:

   churl

Noun (2)

raff (plural raffs)

1. A three-cornered sail set on a schooner when before the wind.

See all 9 meanings of raff