ruff

Noun (1)

ruff (plural ruffs)

1. A circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (1560s–1620s).
   • You a Captaine? you ſlaue, for what? for tearing a poore Whores Ruffe in a Bawdy-houſe? Hee a Captaine? hang him Rogue, hee liues vpon mouldie ſtew'd-Pruines, and dry'de Cakes.c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, containing His Death: And the Coronation of King Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
   • "Just look here! I am a parson now. Here is both the gown and the ruff!"1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 309
2. Anything formed with plaits or flutings like a frill.
   • Fair from its humble bed I rear'd this flow'r; / Suckled, and chear'd, with air, and ſun, and ſhow'r; / Soft on the paper ruff its leaves I ſpread, / Bright with the gilded button tipt its head; […]1742, [Alexander] Pope, The New Dunciad: [...] With the Illustrations of Scriblerus, and Notes Variorum, 2nd edition, London: Printed for J. H. Hubbard, in the Old-Bailey, →OCLC, pages 24–25, lines...
3. A gregarious, medium-sized wading bird of species Calidris pugnax (syn. Philomachus pugnax), of Eurasia; specifically, a male of the species which develops a distinctive ruff of feathers and ear tufts during mating season (the female is called a reeve).
   • A reeve shows her readiness to copulate by crouching in a particular residence. In a crowded lek she selects an individual ruff by turning towards him while still crouching. Some ruffs are thus chosen frequently while others are never selected. Ruff and reeve only copulate after she has crouched...1986, Desmond Nethersole-Thompson, Maimie Nethersole-Thompson, “New or Returning Waders”, in Waders: Their Breeding, Haunts and Watchers, Calton, Staffordshire: T. & A. D. Poyser, →ISBN; republished...
   • During late spring and early summer it becomes difficult to detect Ruffs in their breeding habitat. The males no longer visit the leks, and most have left the area. Some of the females may still be sitting on their eggs, invisible to casual passers-by.1991, Johan G. van Rhijn, “The Vigilant Mother”, in The Ruff: Individuality in a Gregarious Wading Bird, London: T. & A. D. Poyser, →ISBN; republished as The Ruff: Individuality in a Gregarious...
4. A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers on or around the neck of a bird.
   • I ſhall call this bird the painted vulture. […] the head and neck bare of feathers nearly down to the ſtomach, when the feathers begin to cover the ſkin, and ſoon become long and of a ſoft texture, forming a ruff or tippet, in which the bird by contracting his neck can hide that as well as his...1794, William Bartram, chapter V, in Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy...
   • In the ruffed grouse, the special "ruff" feathers are borne on the lateral branches of the lower cervical feather tract.2016, Paul A[ustin] Johnsgard, “Introduction to the North American Grouse”, in The North American Grouse: Their Biology and Behavior, Lincoln, Neb.: Zea Books, →ISBN, page 9, column 1
5. A collar of lengthened or distinctively coloured fur on or around the neck of an animal.
   • The Afghan urial, which is smaller than the Transcaspian urial, is found in the mountains near Iran's eastern frontier, and is the wild sheep of Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Its ruff is black sprinkled with white hairs and its bib is white.2005, Eskandar Firouz, “Mammals of Iran”, in The Complete Fauna of Iran, London; New York, N.Y.: I.B. Tauris, →ISBN, page 88
   • The creature coming toward me went instantly still. On the other side of the fire, one of them jerked upright and popped its ruff as wide as it would go. The other lunged to the side of the second and clamped one clawed hand around its muzzle.2017 April, Marie Brennan [pseudonym; Bryn Neuenschwander], chapter 10, in Within the Sanctuary of Wings: A Memoir by Lady Trent, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, page 151
6. A collar on a shaft or other piece to prevent endwise motion.
   • The stroke of the cut-off valves is very short, and the ruffs on the parts, g, g, regulate its length.1835 January, James Whitelaw, “A Method of Working the Slides and Valves of Steam Engines when Using Steam Expansively”, in The Repertory of Patent Inventions, and Other Discoveries & Improvements in...
   • This plate has a slot in it lengthwise to admit of its being shifted a sixth part of the circumference of the ruff,[…].1846 February 25, “Specification of the Patent Granted to William Robertson, Machine-maker, of Gateside, in the Parish of Neilston, Renfrewshire, for Certain Improvements in the Machinery for...
7. (obsolete) An exhibition of haughtiness or pride.
   • Nay, how many Emperours and Princes, that in the Ruff of all their Glory have been taken down from the Head of a Conquering Army, to the Wheel of the Victor's Chariot?1694, Aesop, Roger L'Estrange, “Fab[le] XXXVIII. A Horse and an Ass.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: With Morals and Reflexions, 2nd corrected and amended edition, London...
8. (obsolete) Tumultuous or wanton conduct or procedure.
   • Thou must not pill and poll thy tenant, that thou mayest have, as they say, Unde, and that thy never enough, to ruffle it out in a riotous ruff, and a prodigal, dissolute, and licentious living.1549 March 15, Hugh Latimer, “The Second Sermon of Master Hugh Latimer, which He Preached before the King’s Majesty, within His Grace’s Palace at Westminster, the Fifteenth Day of March, 1549”, in...

Verb (1)

ruff (third-person singular simple present ruffs, present participle ruffing, simple past and past participle ruffed)

1. (transitive) To shape (fabric, etc.) into a ruff; to adorn (a garment, etc.) with a ruff.
   • The Ladies too were carp’d at, and their Dreſs, / He wants ’em all ruff’d up like good Queen Beſs!1754 December 3, [David] Garrick, “Epilogue, […]”, in [John Brown], Barbarossa. A Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson and S[omerset] Draper […], published 1755, →OCLC, page [5]
2. (transitive) Of a falcon, hawk, etc.: to hit (the prey) without fixing or grabbing hold of it.
   • Instantly the keen-eyed hawk "stooped," or descended, with a rushing swoop, and struck one of the birds with her claws, but without killing it, which is called "rifling," or "ruffing" it.1888, Good Words, volume 29, London: Alexander Strahan and Co., →OCLC, page 616
3. (rare, transitive) To ruffle; to disorder.
   • Thenceforth the fether in her lofty creſt, / Ruffed of loue, gan lowly to auaile, / And her prowd portaunce, and her princely geſt, / VVith which ſhe earſt tryumphed, now did quaile: […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 27, page 418
   • To return to the thatching: Straw is not so durable as one could wish; besides, in very high winds, it is liable, if not reeded, to be ruffed a good deal; and the reeding, which is almost like counting the straws one by one, is expensive.1818 December 15, “To Morris Birkbeck, Esq. of English Prairie, Illinois Territory. Letter II.”, in Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume 34, number 21, London: Printed by W. Molineux, 5...
4. (obsolete, transitive) Of a bird: to ruffle its feathers.
   • "Scat," the crow said. I ignored him. He ruffed up his feathers, doubling his size.2015, Tor Seidler, chapter 1, in Firstborn (A Caitlyn Dloughy Book), New York, N.Y.: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, page 7
5. (obsolete, transitive) To boast, to brag.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To speak in a loud and domineering manner; to bluster, to swagger.
   • […] Mr Gillies ruffed and screamed out so loud in approbation, that he fell from his chair, and brought an American gentleman down with him.1831, “the Ettrick Shepherd” [pseudonym; James Hogg], “The Noctes Sang”, in Songs, by the Ettrick Shepherd. Now First Collected, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, →OCLC

Noun (2)

ruff (plural ruffs)

1. A fish of species Arripis georgianus, found in cool waters off the southern coast of Australia
   • In the same genus there is another species which makes better eating. This is A[rripis] georgianus, popularly known as the ruff or tommy ruff (again, nothing to do with anything bearing that name in the Old World), but now officially called 'Australian herring' (another aberration). [...] The ruff...2014, Alan Davidson, “Australasian ‘salmon’”, in Tom Jaine, editor, The Oxford Companion to Food, 3rd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 44

   Synonyms:

   Australian herring, tommy ruff, roughy

2. (obsolete) A bottom-dwelling carnivorous fish of the family Sparidae found in temperate and tropical waters; a porgy or sea bream.
   • A Ruff, or Sea-bream. Melanurus.[1677, Thomas Holyoke [i.e., Thomas Holyoake], “A Ruff, or Sea-bream”, in A Large Dictionary in Three Parts: I. The English before the Latin, Containing above Ten Thousand Words More Than any...

Verb (2)

ruff (third-person singular simple present ruffs, present participle ruffing, simple past and past participle ruffed)

1. (ambitransitive) To play a trump card to a trick when unable to follow suit (that is, when unable to play a card of the same suit as the previous or leading card).
   • Zia [Mahmood] ruffed the club return and then played the ace of hearts and a heart, leaving declarer with another spade loser for two down.2005, Mark Horton, “2004: Loser Takes Nothing”, in Ray Lee, editor, The Hands of Time: The Best 100 Bridge Deals Ever Played!, Toronto, Ont.: Master Point Press, →ISBN, page 181
   • The declarer may not have fear of losing control on trumps, because even after ruffing in one hand, the other hand will have sufficient length to draw the trumps. A 4-4 fit of trumps is considered to be the best and most convenient for the declarer. […] He can easily make 5 or 6 or even 7 tricks in...2014, D. K. Acharya, Standard Methods of Contract Bridge Complete: A Methodical Study and Critical Analysis of Bidding, Play, Defence and Other Strategic Instruments including Illustration of about...
2. (transitive) Especially in the form ruff out: to defeat (a card, etc.) by ruffing, thus establishing the master card in the suit led.
   • Then I played on diamonds, to ruff out the suit – but East had four diamonds and West none, so I had annoyingly to lose a trick to East's ♣K in the end.1999, Zia Mahmood, David Burn, “The Shriek”, in Ray Lee, editor, Around the World in 80 Hands, Toronto, Ont.: Master Point Press, →ISBN, page 15
   • It never ceases to amaze me how many times people get in trouble by failing to first ruff out their sure losers.2016, Ken Casey, “Introduction: Focus Your Attention on Ruffing Losers”, in Playing Beginning Bridge, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN

Noun (3)

ruff (plural ruffs)

1. An instance of ruffing, or an opportunity to ruff, when unable to follow suit.
   • Take, for example, the axiom "Never give declarer a ruff-and-sluff."2008, Phillip Alder, “The Just-So Story of a Justified Ruff-and-Sluff”, in The New York Times
2. (obsolete) A game similar to whist and its predecessor.
   • [W]hat ſhall wee haue a game at Trumpe or Ruffe to driue away the time, how ſay you?1595, G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. A Pleasant Conceited Comedie, Played by the Queenes Maiesties Players, London: Printed at London by Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Raph Hancocke, and...

Noun (4)

ruff (plural ruffs)

1. (often) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, quieter than a roll; a ruffle.
   • I also used quite a few of the flat-fingered kind of ruff (as used before on the doumbek in the baladi section) to embellish some notes.2003, Rob Lewis, “3 Camps: Rudimental Drum Solo”, in Crosstraining: A Method for Applying Rhythms and Techniques to Drum Set, Hand Percussion and Mallet Instruments, Pacific, Mo.: Mel Bay...

Verb (3)

ruff (third-person singular simple present ruffs, present participle ruffing, simple past and past participle ruffed)

1. (often, transitive) To beat a ruff or ruffle, as on a drum.
   • [A] wooden leg and an empty coat sleeve, and fourteen poor pennies a-day, are all that I have got by allowing myself to be seduced by the cursed din of a Scotchman's bagpipe. I was once a good yeoman, in Kent, and in an evil hour went to the fair at Maidstone. The drum ruffed, and the pipe screamed...1823 February, Nalla, “Corporal Colville”, in The London Magazine, volume VII, London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, 93, Fleet Street, and 13, Waterloo Place, →OCLC, page 136, column 1
2. (intransitive, often) Of a drum, etc.: to have a ruff or ruffle beaten on it.
   • If anything could have kept me awake, this cracked drum would; and, in truth, I had my fears, when, on entering my room, I heard my hero ruffing it away immediately in front of the window; but they were groundless apprehensions, though his efforts were varied and unceasing, for I undressed to the...1836, Tyrone Power, “Trenton Falls”, in Impressions of America, during the Years 1833, 1834, and 1835. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, publisher in...

Interjection

1. (often) The bark of a dog; arf, woof.
   • "Ruff, ruff!" Around the corner, a little light brown, short-haired dog came running. On seeing the little brown terrier, Annie and Marie looked at one another. Letting out a moan, Annie said, "Oh no, it's JB! I wish Joyce would take him to dog school and have him taught some manners."2014, Suzan Kayaalp, “The Visitor”, in The Adventures of Lucky the Duck, New York, N.Y.: Page Publishing, →ISBN

Proper noun capitalized: Ruff

Ruff

1. A surname.