ruff
/ɹəf/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.05 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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; […]"
- "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."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹəf/
- British English: /ɹʌf/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Military, Music.