ruff UK /ɹʌf/US /ɹəf/noun 13verb 10exclamation 1forms 3 noun13 •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. — 1596 •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 •A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers on or around the neck of a bird.In the ruffed grouse, the special "ruff" feathers are borne on the lateral branches of the lower cervical feather tract. — 2016 •A collar of lengthened or distinctively coloured fur on or around the neck of an animal. •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). •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 •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 •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 •A fish of species Arripis georgianus, found in cool waters off the southern coast of Australia •(no longer used) 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 •(no longer used) 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 •(no longer used) 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 •(no longer used) 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 verb10 •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 •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 •Of a bird: to ruffle its feathers."Scat," the crow said. I ignored him. He ruffed up his feathers, doubling his size. — 2015 •(rare) 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 •To beat a ruff or ruffle, as on a drum. •Of a drum, etc.: to have a ruff or ruffle beaten on it. •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 •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 •(no longer used) To boast, to brag. •(no longer used) 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 exclamation1 •The bark of a dog; arf, woof. formsruffed · ruffing · ruffs
