Ruff Meaning
/ɹʌf/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (1560s–1620s).
nounAnything formed with plaits or flutings like a frill.
Sentence Examples
Arf! Ruff! Bow-wow! Woof! Grrrrrr....
"Cookie, how does sandpaper feel?" "Ruff!" "Wow, that's amazing!"
That dog has been barking 'Ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff!' all day long.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The nobleman wore a stiff lace ____ around his neck to show status.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The Elizabethan portrait showed the nobleman wearing an elaborate pleated ____ around his neck.
Word Origin & History
Clipping of ruffle, or possibly from rough.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, containing His Death: And the Coronation of King Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene iv, page 83, column 1:
""Just look here! I am a parson now. Here is both the gown and the ruff!""
— 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 309:
""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."
— 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
"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, [Alexander] Pope, The New Dunciad: [...] With the Illustrations of Scriblerus, and Notes Variorum, 2nd edition, London: Printed for J. H. Hubbard, in the Old-Bailey, →OCLC, pages 24–25, lines 395–398:
"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."
— 1986, Desmond Nethersole-Thompson, Maimie Nethersole-Thompson, “New or Returning Waders”, in Waders: Their Breeding, Haunts and Watchers, Calton, Staffordshire: T. & A. D. Poyser, →ISBN; republished as Waders: Their Breeding, Haunts and Watchers (Poyser Monographs), London: T. & A. D. Poyser, 2010, →ISBN, page 323:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The nobleman wore a stiff lace ____ around his neck to show status.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The Elizabethan portrait showed the nobleman wearing an elaborate pleated ____ around his neck.