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Ruff vs Tuff - What's the difference?

ruff | tuff |

As nouns the difference between ruff and tuff

is that ruff is reputation while tuff is (rock) a light porous rock, now especially a rock composed of compacted volcanic ash varying in size from fine sand to coarse gravel.

As an adjective tuff is

older and simplified spelling of tough.

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.

    • tuff

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • older and simplified spelling of tough
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=1980 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Joy Wilt Berry, Ernie Hergenroeder , title=Tuff Stuff: A Children's Book about Trauma , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=Educational Products Division, Word, Inc. , isbn=9780849981364 , page= , passage=Tuff Stuff teaches that while life may go smoothly most of the time, ... }}
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=2000 , year_published= , edition= , editor=Sylvia Bowerbank, Sara Mendelson , author=Margaret Cavendish , title=Paper Bodies , chapter=Preface to the Reader (1655) citation , genre= , publisher= , isbn=9781551111735 , page=139 , passage=… yet never to make us so strong as the strongest of Men, whose Sinnews are tuffer , and Bones stronger, and Joints closer, and Flesh firmer, than ours are … }}
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=2003 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Ronald Carter , title=The Routledge Guide to Modern English Writing , chapter= citation , genre=Language Arts , publisher=Routledge , isbn=9780415286367 , page=96 , passage=It was rave reviewed in the Caribbean Times as 'the ruffest, tuffest and the boo-yacka of all modern gangster novels'. }}
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=2006 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Paige Hemmis , title=The Tuff Chix Guide to Easy Home Improvement , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=Penguin , isbn=9780452287617 , page=36 , passage=TUFF METER }}
  • :* {{quote-web
    • , date=2010-01-20 , year= , first= , last= , author=Robert J. Elisberg , authorlink= , title=CES 2020 -- Ohm on the Range , site=Huffington Post citation , archiveorg= , accessdate=2012-09-14 , passage=Its Tuff'-n-Tiny USB flash drive is about the size of a thumbnail. … The company insists that the "' tuff " part of the name is well-earned for being waterproof, dustproof and you can drive a car over it. }}
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=2011 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Kristian Pope , title=Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling Field Guide: Legend and Lore , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=Krause Publications , isbn=9781440228100 , page= , passage=Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling }}

    References

    * Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, tuff (wikipedia tuff)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) tuffe, (tuf), from (etyl) tufo, from (etyl) .

    Noun

  • (rock) A light porous rock, now especially a rock composed of compacted volcanic ash varying in size from fine sand to coarse gravel.
  • * 2004 , (Richard Fortey), The Earth , Folio Society 2011, p. 9n:
    • This is what makes an ignimbrite; the general term for this kind of volcaniclastic rock is ‘tuff ’.
    Related terms
    * tufflava