Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Ruff

Ruff (rŭf), n. [F. ronfle; cf. It. ronfa, Pg. rufa, rifa.] (Card Playing) (a) A game similar to whist, and the predecessor of it. Nares.

(b) The act of trumping, especially when one has no card of the suit led.

Ruff, v. i. & t. (Card Playing) To trump.

Ruff, n. [Of uncertain origin: cf. Icel. rūfinn rough, uncombed, Pr. ruf rude, rough, Sp. rufo frizzed, crisp, curled, G. raufen to pluck, fight, rupfen to pluck, pull, E. rough. √18. Cf. Ruffle to wrinkle.] 1. A muslin or linen collar plaited, crimped, or fluted, worn formerly by both sexes, now only by women and children.

Here to-morrow with his best ruff on. Shak.

His gravity is much lessened since the late proclamation came out against ruffs; . . . they were come to that height of excess herein, that twenty shillings were used to be paid for starching of a ruff. Howell.

2. Something formed with plaits or flutings, like the collar of this name.

I reared this flower; . . . Soft on the paper ruff its leaves I spread. Pope.

3. An exhibition of pride or haughtiness.

How many princes . . . 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! L'Estrange.

4. Wanton or tumultuous procedure or conduct. [Obs.]

To ruffle it out in a riotous ruff. Latimer.

5. (Mil.) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, not so loud as a roll; a ruffle.

6. (Mach.) A collar on a shaft ot other piece to prevent endwise motion. See Illust. of Collar.

7. (Zoöl.) A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers round, or on, the neck of a bird.

8. (Zoöl.) (a) A limicoline bird of Europe and Asia (Pavoncella, or Philommachus, pugnax) allied to the sandpipers. The males during the breeding season have a large ruff of erectile feathers, variable in their colors, on the neck, and yellowish naked tubercles on the face. They are polygamous, and are noted for their pugnacity in the breeding season. The female is called reeve, or rheeve. (b) A variety of the domestic pigeon, having a ruff of its neck.

Ruff, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ruffed; p. pr. & vb. n. Ruffing.] 1. To ruffle; to disorder. Spenser.

2. (Mil.) To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.

3. (Hawking) To hit, as the prey, without fixing it.

Ruff, Ruffe, n. [OE. ruffe.] (Zoöl.) A small freshwater European perch (Acerina vulgaris); — called also pope, blacktail, and stone, or striped, perch.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.