ruff
Part of speech: noun
verb
intj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
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Etymology: Clipping of ruffle, or possibly from rough.
Inflected forms:
form: ruffs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: ruffs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: ruffing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: ruffed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: ruffed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (1560s–1620s).
pos: noun
examples: 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.
"Just look here! I am a parson now. Here is both the gown and the ruff!"
"When we first forgathered, I was sitting on the floor with a chair round my neck." "Like an Elizabethan ruff, as worn by Thomas Botway." "Otway," I said stiffly.
gloss: Anything formed with plaits or flutings like a frill.
pos: noun
examples: 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; […]
gloss: Senses relating to animals.
pos: noun
examples: 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 and has sometimes nibbled the feathers at the back of the ruff’s head.
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.
gloss: Senses relating to animals.
pos: noun
examples: 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 head: […]
In the ruffed grouse, the special "ruff" feathers are borne on the lateral branches of the lower cervical feather tract.
gloss: Senses relating to animals.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
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.
gloss: A collar on a shaft or other piece to prevent endwise motion.
pos: noun
examples: The stroke of the cut-off valves is very short, and the ruffs on the parts, g, g, regulate its length.
This plate has a slot in it lengthwise to admit of its being shifted a sixth part of the circumference of the ruff,[…].
gloss: An exhibition of haughtiness or pride.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: 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?
gloss: Tumultuous or wanton conduct or procedure.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
gloss: To shape (fabric, etc.) into a ruff; to adorn (a garment, etc.) with a ruff.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The Ladies too were carp’d at, and their Dreſs, / He wants ’em all ruff’d up like good Queen Beſs!
gloss: Of a falcon, hawk, etc.: to hit (the prey) without fixing or grabbing hold of it.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To ruffle; to disorder.
pos: verb
tags: rare
transitive
examples: 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: […]
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.
I left my canoe below the fish lay, casting upward, so if I could hook a fish from shore I could lead him down without danger of ruffing the pool.
gloss: Of a bird: to ruffle its feathers.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: "Scat," the crow said. I ignored him. He ruffed up his feathers, doubling his size.
gloss: To boast, to brag.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To speak in a loud and domineering manner; to bluster, to swagger.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: […] Mr Gillies ruffed and screamed out so loud in approbation, that he fell from his chair, and brought an American gentleman down with him.
gloss: The bark of a dog; arf, woof.
pos: intj
tags: often
examples: "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."
Derived words: French ruff
ruffless
rufflike
ruffable
unruffable
Translations: