Definition of ruff

• n. - A game similar to whist, and the predecessor of it.
• n. - The act of trumping, especially when one has no card of the suit led.
• v. i. & t. - To trump.
• n. - A muslin or linen collar plaited, crimped, or fluted, worn formerly by both sexes, now only by women and children.
• n. - Something formed with plaits or flutings, like the collar of this name.
• n. - An exhibition of pride or haughtiness.
• n. - Wanton or tumultuous procedure or conduct.
• n. - A low, vibrating beat of a drum, not so loud as a roll; a ruffle.
• n. - A collar on a shaft ot other piece to prevent endwise motion. See Illust. of Collar.
• n. - A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers round, or on, the neck of a bird.
• n. - A limicoline bird of Europe and Asia (Pavoncella, / 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.
• n. - A variety of the domestic pigeon, having a ruff of its neck.
• v. t. - To ruffle; to disorder.
• v. t. - To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.
• v. t. - To hit, as the prey, without fixing it.
• n. - Alt. of Ruffe