riff
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪf/
rhymes: -ɪf
homophone: Rif
Forms: form: riffs
form: riffing
form: riffed
form: riffed
Etymology: Uncertain. Perhaps a clipping of riffle, or an alteration of refrain.
Senses: examples: text: She riffed on the Olympic judges, the bobsled team, then ad-libbed with a woman drinking a martini at the front table.
ref: 2006, Janet Tashjian, Fault Line: A Novel, →ISBN:
text: They were great architects deeply enmeshed in an urban chain of innovation; Wright riffed on Sullivan's idea of form following function, and Sullivan riffed on Jenney, and Jenney relied on the fireproofing innovations of Peter B. Wight.
ref: 2011, Edward Glaeser, Triumph of the City, →ISBN:
text: For Holyoake a strategic advantage of his newly coined label was the way it riffed on the term 'secular' in the Western Christian imaginary.
ref: 2014, Johann P. Arnason, Religion and Politics: European and Global Perspectives, →ISBN, page 59:
text: He riffed an upward arpeggio and in a smooth, slightly neutered baritone began singing “Baby Face.”
ref: 2014, Edward Stewart, Privileged Lives, →ISBN:
text: In particular, Ralph Breaks The Internet riffs a lot on its enormous parent company, from that princess bit to the Sterling Holloway tone that new good-luck charm Alan Tudyk brings to his vocal performance to a goof on the de facto parenting advice that’s at the heart of so many Pixar movies.
ref: 2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019:
glosses: To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
examples: text: He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a wellworn deck of cards. He hated Saturday duty. He cut the deck and riffed the two halves together.
ref: 2010, Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind, →ISBN:
text: He was gracious enough to thank her, and briefly riffed through the pages before putting it in his briefcase.
ref: 2012, Jane Roberts, Triple Challenge: '69 to '70, →ISBN, page 173:
text: The man reached inside a pocket of the black broadcloth coat he'd draped over the back of his chair and withdrew a deck of cards, which he fanned in one hand, then bent back and riffed rapidly into the palm of his other.
ref: 2014, Miles Swarthout, The Last Shootist, →ISBN:
glosses: To riffle.
examples: text: Most MSTers confine their "riffing" to original fan fiction rather than scripts from corporate-owned entertainment properties, which renders such twice-removed MSTing somewhat toothless: the cannibalizing parody of a pastiche.
ref: 2014 January 10, Robert G. Weiner, Shelley E. Barba, In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Essays on Film, Fandom, Technology and the Culture of Riffing, McFarland, →ISBN, page 126:
text: A bad sci-fi movie is often ludicrous and silly and ripe for riffing. A bad comedy is usually just dull.
ref: 2015 January 27, Chris Morgan, The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Twelve Classic Episodes and the Movies They Lampoon, McFarland, →ISBN, page 34:
synonyms: MST
glosses: To tell jokes over a movie or similar performance.