What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Ruff vs Muff - What's the difference?

ruff | muff |

As nouns the difference between ruff and muff

is that ruff is reputation while muff is (lb) a piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm or muff can be (colloquial) a fool, a stupid or poor-spirited person or muff can be (slang) a muffin.

As a verb muff is

(sport) to drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc); to play badly.

ruff

English

Etymology 1

A shortening of (ruffle)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A gregarious, medium-sized wading bird of Eurasia, Philomachus pugnax .
  • # A male of the species. (The female is a reeve).
  • a small freshwater fish; a pope.
  • A circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.
  • *
  • Anything formed with plaits or flutings, like the frill.
  • * (rfdate) Alexander Pope
    • I reared this flower; / Soft on the paper ruff its leaves I spread.
  • (obsolete) An exhibition of pride or haughtiness.
  • * (rfdate) L'Estrange
    • How many princes in the ruff of all their glory, have been taken down from the head of a conquering army to the wheel of the victor's chariot!
  • (obsolete) Wanton or tumultuous procedure or conduct.
  • * (rfdate) Latimer
    • to ruffle it out in a riotous ruff
  • (military) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, quieter than a roll; a ruffle.
  • (engineering) A collar on a shaft or other piece to prevent endwise motion.
  • A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers on or around the neck of a bird.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To ruffle; to disorder.
    • (Spenser)
  • (military) To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.
  • (hawking) To hit (the prey) without fixing it.

    • Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A card game similar to whist, and the predecessor of it.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (cards) To play a trump card to a trick, other than when trumps were led
    • Synonyms
    *

    Derived terms

    * overruff * underruff

    See also

    *

    Etymology 3

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (colloquial)

    • Etymology 4

    Onomatopoeic. English onomatopoeias

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • The bark of a dog; woof.

    • muff

    English

    (wikipedia muff)

    Etymology 1

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (lb) A piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm.
  • *
  • *:Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff .
  • (lb) Female pubic hair; the vulva.
  • (lb) A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
  • The feathers sticking out from both sides of the face under the beak of some birds.
  • A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object such as a pipe.
    • Synonyms
    * whiskers, beard, muff and beard (bird feathers)
    Related terms
    * muff-diver * muff-diving * muff pistol

    Etymology 2

    Origin unknown; perhaps a specialised use of Etymology 1, above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (colloquial) A fool, a stupid or poor-spirited person.
  • * Thackeray
    • a muff of a curate
  • A bird, the whitethroat.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (sport) To drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc.); to play badly.
  • To mishandle; to bungle.
  • * 1977 , (Alistair Horne), A Savage War of Peace , New York Review Books 2006, p. 69:
    • Here was the superlative opportunity to make a generous and lasting settlement from a position of strength; but the pieds noirs , like the Israelis, and from not altogether dissimilar motives, were to muff it.

    Etymology 3

    Shortening.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (slang) A muffin.
    • ----