Bluff
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bluff¹
- /blʌf/ US, UK
- /blɐf/ Australia, New Zealand
- /blʊf/ Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌf
Where it comes from
Probably from Dutch bluffen (“to brag”), from Middle Dutch bluffen (“to make something swell; to bluff”); or from the Dutch noun bluf (“bragging”). Related to German verblüffen (“to stump, perplex”).
noun bluffs
- An act of bluffing; a false expression of the strength of one’s position in order to intimidate or deceive; braggadocio. That is only bluff, or That is only a bluff.
- An attempt to represent oneself as holding a stronger hand than one actually does. John’s bet was a bluff: he bet without even so much as a pair.
- The card game poker. BLUFF OR POKER [title of a chapter]
- One who bluffs; a bluffer.
- Pretense, excuse.
verb bluffs · bluffing · bluffed
- To make a bluff; to give the impression that one’s hand is stronger than it is. John bluffed by betting without even a pair.
- To frighten, deter, or deceive with a false show of strength or confidence; to give a false impression of strength or temerity in order to intimidate or gain some advantage. The government claims it will call an election if this bill does not pass. Is it truly ready to do so, or is it bluffing?
- To perform or achieve by bluffing. We bluffed our way past the guards.
- To give false information intentionally, to lie (to someone), to deceive; to put on an act. Vinod, you want to bluff the doctor, your mother, father, uncle, auntie, CMPB all that I don't care. But you cannot bluff me.
bluff²
- /blʌf/ US, UK
- /blɐf/ Australia, New Zealand
- /blʊf/ Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌf
Where it comes from
Related to Middle Low German blaff (“smooth”).
noun bluffs
- A high, steep bank, for example by a river or the sea, or beside a ravine or plain; a cliff with a broad face. In the sketch (which is taken about 75 Jovian days after that of the 2nd July) there is shown a dark copper-coloured streak along the southern margin of the south brown belt, butting on to a bluff-headed streak of cumulus cloud which may be the same remarkable bluff head noticed on July 2.
- A small wood or stand of trees, typically poplar or willow.
adjective bluffer · bluffest
- Having a broad, flattened front. the bluff bows of a ship
- Rising steeply with a flat or rounded front. a bluff or bold shore
- Surly; churlish; gruff; rough. […] he had a bluff, rough-and-ready face, all roughened and reddened and lined in his long travels.
- Roughly frank and hearty in one's manners. a bluff answer
bluff³
- /blʌf/ US, UK
- /blɐf/ Australia, New Zealand
- /blʊf/ Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌf
Where it comes from
Possibly onomatopoeic, perhaps related to blow and puff.
verb bluffs · bluffing · bluffed
- To fluff, puff or swell up. Not a sparrow on the cottage thatch, where the chimney's warmth had thawed the snow, that did not seem to have his great coat on, so bluffed out were the feathers, and not a frozen-out duck who did not glance up at the icicles hanging to the roof, and quack a prayer for rain.
Bluff⁴
proper noun
- An unincorporated community in Fayette County, Alabama.
- A ghost town in Nome Census Area, Alaska.
- Synonym of Uptown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- An unincorporated community in Fayette County, Texas.
- A town in San Juan County, Utah.
- A group of suburbs in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
- A rural town in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia.
- A town in Southland, New Zealand, the southernmost in the South Island, and seaport for the Southland region. Former name: Campbelltown
- A surname.
