Noun

(-)

(robbery).

* 1567 July 19, Proclamation by the Earl of Bedford'', quoted in ''Calendar of State Papers, foreign series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, 1566-8 (1871), volume 10:

[The earl] commands all within his charge to abstain from reiving or stealing from the subjects of Scotland. For such riefs as have been made upon them, the Queen minds to have the same mended by justice.

* 1822 , Alexander Peterkin, Notes on Orkney and Zetland , page 61:

here the record is quite defaced and worn out, insomuch that only the words of the charge, viz. extortions, insolvencies, riefs , and oppressions, can be discovered

* (rfdate) James Taylor, The Pictorial History of Scotland , volume 2, page 133:

Murders, riefs , and spoliations became more common on the Borders after this raid than they had ever been before.

Noun

(en noun)

A repeated instrumental melody line in a song.

* {{quote-news

, year=2009 , date=November 27 , author= , title=Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff' , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has been named the greatest guitar riff of all time, 41 years after it was recorded, in a poll by website Music Radar.}}

A clever or witty remark.

A variation on something.

*2012 , The Economist, London Skyline: Tower Power

Both the Orbit and the Pinnacle are riffs on an idea sketched out in 1917 by Vladimir Tatlin for a monument to international communism.

A spoof

* 26 June 2014 , A.A Dowd, AV Club Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler spoof rom-com clichés in They Came Together [http://www.avclub.com/review/paul-rudd-and-amy-poehler-spoof-rom-com-cliches-th-206220]

The creative team has experience with spoofing: Both Rudd and Poehler had parts in Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer, a hysterically irreverent riff on ’80s summer-camp comedies.