bluff | noun (n.) A high, steep bank, as by a river or the sea, or beside a ravine or plain; a cliff with a broad face. |
| noun (n.) An act of bluffing; an expression of self-confidence for the purpose of intimidation; braggadocio; as, that is only bluff, or a bluff. |
| noun (n.) A game at cards; poker. |
| adjective (a.) Having a broad, flattened front; as, the bluff bows of a ship. |
| adjective (a.) Rising steeply with a flat or rounded front. |
| adjective (a.) Surly; churlish; gruff; rough. |
| adjective (a.) Abrupt; roughly frank; unceremonious; blunt; brusque; as, a bluff answer; a bluff manner of talking; a bluff sea captain. |
| verb (v. t.) To deter (an opponent) from taking the risk of betting on his hand of cards, as the bluffer does by betting heavily on his own hand although it may be of less value. |
| verb (v. t.) To frighten or deter from accomplishing a purpose by making a show of confidence in one's strength or resources; as, he bluffed me off. |
| verb (v. i.) To act as in the game of bluff. |
buff | noun (n.) A sort of leather, prepared from the skin of the buffalo, dressed with oil, like chamois; also, the skins of oxen, elks, and other animals, dressed in like manner. |
| noun (n.) The color of buff; a light yellow, shading toward pink, gray, or brown. |
| noun (n.) A military coat, made of buff leather. |
| noun (n.) The grayish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat. See Buffy coat, under Buffy, a. |
| noun (n.) A buffet; a blow; -- obsolete except in the phrase "Blindman's buff." |
| adjective (a.) A wheel covered with buff leather, and used in polishing cutlery, spoons, etc. |
| adjective (a.) The bare skin; as, to strip to the buff. |
| adjective (a.) Made of buff leather. |
| adjective (a.) Of the color of buff. |
| adjective (a.) Firm; sturdy. |
| verb (v. t.) To polish with a buff. See Buff, n., 5. |
| verb (v. t.) To strike. |
cuff | noun (n.) A blow; esp.,, a blow with the open hand; a box; a slap. |
| noun (n.) The fold at the end of a sleeve; the part of a sleeve turned back from the hand. |
| noun (n.) Any ornamental appendage at the wrist, whether attached to the sleeve of the garment or separate; especially, in modern times, such an appendage of starched linen, or a substitute for it of paper, or the like. |
| verb (v. t.) To strike; esp., to smite with the palm or flat of the hand; to slap. |
| verb (v. t.) To buffet. |
| verb (v. i.) To fight; to scuffle; to box. |
huff | noun (n.) A swell of sudden anger or arrogance; a fit of disappointment and petulance or anger; a rage. |
| noun (n.) A boaster; one swelled with a false opinion of his own value or importance. |
| verb (v. t.) To swell; to enlarge; to puff up; as, huffed up with air. |
| verb (v. t.) To treat with insolence and arrogance; to chide or rebuke with insolence; to hector; to bully. |
| verb (v. t.) To remove from the board (the piece which could have captured an opposing piece). See Huff, v. i., 3. |
| verb (v. i.) To enlarge; to swell up; as, bread huffs. |
| verb (v. i.) To bluster or swell with anger, pride, or arrogance; to storm; to take offense. |
| verb (v. i.) To remove from the board a man which could have captured a piece but has not done so; -- so called because it was the habit to blow upon the piece. |
muff | noun (n.) A soft cover of cylindrical form, usually of fur, worn by women to shield the hands from cold. |
| noun (n.) A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object, as a pipe. |
| noun (n.) A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet. |
| noun (n.) A stupid fellow; a poor-spirited person. |
| noun (n.) A failure to hold a ball when once in the hands. |
| noun (n.) The whitethroat. |
| verb (v. t.) To handle awkwardly; to fumble; to fail to hold, as a ball, in catching it. |
puff | noun (n.) A sudden and single emission of breath from the mouth; hence, any sudden or short blast of wind; a slight gust; a whiff. |
| noun (n.) Anything light and filled with air. |
| noun (n.) A puffball. |
| noun (n.) a kind of light pastry. |
| noun (n.) A utensil of the toilet for dusting the skin or hair with powder. |
| noun (n.) An exaggerated or empty expression of praise, especially one in a public journal. |
| noun (n.) To blow in puffs, or with short and sudden whiffs. |
| noun (n.) To blow, as an expression of scorn; -- with at. |
| noun (n.) To breathe quick and hard, or with puffs, as after violent exertion. |
| noun (n.) To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated. |
| noun (n.) To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance. |
| adjective (a.) Puffed up; vain. |
| verb (v. t.) To drive with a puff, or with puffs. |
| verb (v. t.) To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously. |
| verb (v. t.) To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate; to ruffle with puffs; -- often with up; as, a bladder puffed with air. |
| verb (v. t.) To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, or the like; -- often with up. |
| verb (v. t.) To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly. |
ruff | noun (n.) A game similar to whist, and the predecessor of it. |
| noun (n.) The act of trumping, especially when one has no card of the suit led. |
| noun (n.) A muslin or linen collar plaited, crimped, or fluted, worn formerly by both sexes, now only by women and children. |
| noun (n.) Something formed with plaits or flutings, like the collar of this name. |
| noun (n.) An exhibition of pride or haughtiness. |
| noun (n.) Wanton or tumultuous procedure or conduct. |
| noun (n.) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, not so loud as a roll; a ruffle. |
| noun (n.) A collar on a shaft ot other piece to prevent endwise motion. See Illust. of Collar. |
| noun (n.) A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers round, or on, the neck of a bird. |
| noun (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. |
| noun (n.) A variety of the domestic pigeon, having a ruff of its neck. |
| noun (n.) Alt. of Ruffe |
| verb (v. i. & t.) To trump. |
| verb (v. t.) To ruffle; to disorder. |
| verb (v. t.) To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum. |
| verb (v. t.) To hit, as the prey, without fixing it. |
snuff | noun (n.) The act of snuffing; perception by snuffing; a sniff. |
| noun (n.) Pulverized tobacco, etc., prepared to be taken into the nose; also, the amount taken at once. |
| noun (n.) Resentment, displeasure, or contempt, expressed by a snuffing of the nose. |
| verb (v. t.) The part of a candle wick charred by the flame, whether burning or not. |
| verb (v. t.) To crop the snuff of, as a candle; to take off the end of the snuff of. |
| verb (v. i.) To draw in, or to inhale, forcibly through the nose; to sniff. |
| verb (v. i.) To perceive by the nose; to scent; to smell. |
| verb (v. i.) To inhale air through the nose with violence or with noise, as do dogs and horses. |
| verb (v. i.) To turn up the nose and inhale air, as an expression of contempt; hence, to take offense. |
stuff | noun (n.) To fill by crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess; as, to stuff a bedtick. |
| noun (n.) To thrust or crowd; to press; to pack. |
| noun (n.) To fill by being pressed or packed into. |
| noun (n.) To fill with a seasoning composition of bread, meat, condiments, etc.; as, to stuff a turkey. |
| noun (n.) To obstruct, as any of the organs; to affect with some obstruction in the organs of sense or respiration. |
| noun (n.) To fill the skin of, for the purpose of preserving as a specimen; -- said of birds or other animals. |
| noun (n.) To form or fashion by packing with the necessary material. |
| noun (n.) To crowd with facts; to cram the mind of; sometimes, to crowd or fill with false or idle tales or fancies. |
| noun (n.) To put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box). |
| verb (v. t.) Material which is to be worked up in any process of manufacture. |
| verb (v. t.) The fundamental material of which anything is made up; elemental part; essence. |
| verb (v. t.) Woven material not made into garments; fabric of any kind; specifically, any one of various fabrics of wool or worsted; sometimes, worsted fiber. |
| verb (v. t.) Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils. |
| verb (v. t.) A medicine or mixture; a potion. |
| verb (v. t.) Refuse or worthless matter; hence, also, foolish or irrational language; nonsense; trash. |
| verb (v. t.) A melted mass of turpentine, tallow, etc., with which the masts, sides, and bottom of a ship are smeared for lubrication. |
| verb (v. t.) Paper stock ground ready for use. |
| verb (v. i.) To feed gluttonously; to cram. |
deaf | adjective (a.) Wanting the sense of hearing, either wholly or in part; unable to perceive sounds; hard of hearing; as, a deaf man. |
| adjective (a.) Unwilling to hear or listen; determinedly inattentive; regardless; not to be persuaded as to facts, argument, or exhortation; -- with to; as, deaf to reason. |
| adjective (a.) Deprived of the power of hearing; deafened. |
| adjective (a.) Obscurely heard; stifled; deadened. |
| adjective (a.) Decayed; tasteless; dead; as, a deaf nut; deaf corn. |
| verb (v. t.) To deafen. |
draff | noun (n.) Refuse; lees; dregs; the wash given to swine or cows; hogwash; waste matter. |
| noun (n.) The act of drawing; also, the thing drawn. Same as Draught. |
| noun (n.) A selecting or detaching of soldiers from an army, or from any part of it, or from a military post; also from any district, or any company or collection of persons, or from the people at large; also, the body of men thus drafted. |
| noun (n.) An order from one person or party to another, directing the payment of money; a bill of exchange. |
| noun (n.) An allowance or deduction made from the gross veight of goods. |
| noun (n.) A drawing of lines for a plan; a plan delineated, or drawn in outline; a delineation. See Draught. |
| noun (n.) The form of any writing as first drawn up; the first rough sketch of written composition, to be filled in, or completed. See Draught. |
| noun (n.) A narrow border left on a finished stone, worked differently from the rest of its face. |
| noun (n.) A narrow border worked to a plane surface along the edge of a stone, or across its face, as a guide to the stone-cutter. |
| noun (n.) The slant given to the furrows in the dress of a millstone. |
| noun (n.) Depth of water necessary to float a ship. See Draught. |
| noun (n.) A current of air. Same as Draught. |