A ruff is a stiff strip of cloth or other material with many small folds in it, which some people wore round their neck in former times.
...an Elizabethan ruff.
2. countable noun
A ruff is a thick band of feathers or fur round the neck of a bird or animal.
ruff in British English1
(rʌf)
noun
1.
a circular pleated, gathered, or fluted collar of lawn, muslin, etc, often starched or wired, worn by both men and women in the 16th and 17th centuries
2. zoology
a natural growth of long or coloured hair or feathers around the necks of certain animals or birds
3.
a.
an Old World shore bird, Philomachus pugnax, the male of which has a large erectile ruff of feathers in the breeding season: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes
b.
the male of this bird
Compare reeve3
Derived forms
rufflike (ˈruffˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
C16: back formation from ruffle1
ruff in British English2
(rʌf) cards
noun
1. another word for trump1
2.
an old card game similar to whist
verb
3. another word for trump1 (sense 4)
Word origin
C16: from Old French roffle; perhaps changed from Italian trionfatrump1
ruff in British English3
(rʌf)
noun
another name for roughy
ruff in American English1
(rʌf)
noun
1.
a high, frilled or pleated collar of starched muslin, lace, etc., worn by men and women in the 16th and 17th cent.
2.
a band of distinctively colored or protruding feathers or fur about the neck of an animal or bird
3.
a Eurasian sandpiper (Philomachus pugnax), the male of which grows a large ruff during the breeding season
the female is called a reeve
Derived forms
ruffed (rʌft)
adjective
Word origin
contr. of , ruffle1 noun
ruff in American English2
(rʌf)
Cards
verb transitive, verb intransitive
1.
trump1
noun
2.
the act of trumping
Word origin
OFr roffle, earlier ronfle, altered < ? triomphe: see trump1
ruff in American English3
(rʌf)
noun
1.
a small, spotted, European freshwater perch (Acerina cernua)
: also ruffe
2.
any of various Atlantic butterfishes (genus Centrolophus)
Word origin
ME ruffe < ? rugh, rough
Examples of 'ruff' in a sentence
ruff
If it loses you are going to need the club finesse and one ruff in the dummy.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
West ruffed away declarer's ace and led his last heart.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
East won the ace and returned a low club for West to ruff.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Declarer won dummy's king and sought to ruff hearts in dummy.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
He could cash the ace of hearts, ruff a fourth heart and merely concede the king of clubs to the ace.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Q for a ruffing finesse, planning to discard?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
West ruffs the second club and (say) returns a heart.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
You return to dummy and ruff a third round.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Away goes your last heart as you ruff in dummy.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
She crossed back to hand and took another ruffing club finesse and now had enough tricks.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
West ruffed but declarer could ruff her club return and score the last four tricks with?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
He then led the king of clubs for a ruffing finesse.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
West ruffed and cashed a top club.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Can you see an alternative to the ruffing heart finesse?
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
West refused to ruff any of these but it did him no good.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
You lead to the ace, and ruff the second round.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
West won and played a heart, ruffed in the dummy.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Had both opponents followed, declarer could have ruffed a fourth round to set up a long card.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
A courtly figure dressed in a ruff and staring from a castle window would not be particularly unusual if he appeared in a period painting.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
He cashed the ace, discarding a club, then ruffed a third round.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
If East plays low at trick two, he is only able to give his partner one ruff and the game makes.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
When West had to win the heart, he could not put his partner in to get the ruff and the game rolled home.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Word lists with
ruff
male animals, female animals, bird, terms used in cards