bluff
See also: Bluff
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /blʌf/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌf
Etymology 1
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
bluff (countable and uncountable, plural bluffs)
- An act of bluffing; a false expression of the strength of one's position in order to intimidate; braggadocio.
- That is only bluff, or a bluff.
- (poker) 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.
- (US, dated) The card game poker.
- 1845, Hoyle's Games:
- BLUFF OR POKER [title of a chapter]
- One who bluffs; a bluffer.
- (slang, dated) An excuse.
Derived terms
Translations
act of bluffing
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poker: attempt to represent yourself as holding a stronger hand than you do
Verb
bluff (third-person singular simple present bluffs, present participle bluffing, simple past and past participle bluffed)
- (poker) 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.
- (by analogy) To frighten or deter with a false show of strength or confidence; to give a false impression of strength or temerity in order to intimidate and 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 take advantage by bluffing.
- We bluffed our way past the guards.
- (Manglish, Singlish) To give false information intentionally; to lie; to deceive
Translations
to make a bluff
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to scare with a false show of strength
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Noun
bluff (plural 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.
- 2020, David Farrier, “Thin Cities”, in Footprints, 4th Estate, →ISBN:
- Situated on bluffs above the Huangpu, a tributary of the Yangtze, Shanghai—which means ‘above the sea’—is sinking.
- (Canadian Prairies) A small wood or stand of trees, typically poplar or willow.
Derived terms
Translations
high, steep bank
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Adjective
bluff (comparative bluffer, superlative bluffest)
- Having a broad, flattened front.
- the bluff bows of a ship
- Rising steeply with a flat or rounded front.
- 1769, William Falconer, "Côte en écore" (entry in An Universal Dictionary of the Marine)
- a bluff or bold shore
- 1845, Sylvester Judd, Margaret: A Tale of the Real and the Ideal, Blight and Bloom; Including Sketches of a Place Not Before Described, Called Mons Christi:
- Its banks, if not really steep, had a bluff and precipitous aspect.
- 1769, William Falconer, "Côte en écore" (entry in An Universal Dictionary of the Marine)
- Surly; churlish; gruff; rough.
- 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
- […] 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.
- Synonyms: abrupt, unceremonious, blunt, brusque
- a bluff answer
- a bluff manner of talking
- a bluff sea captain
- 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
- There is indeed a bluff pertinacity which is a proper defence in a moment of surprise.
Derived terms
Translations
rising steeply with a flat or rounded front
surly; churlish; gruff; rough
Verb
bluff (third-person singular simple present bluffs, present participle bluffing, simple past and past participle bluffed)
- To fluff, puff or swell up.
- 1866, Grantley F[itzhardinge] Berkeley, “Incidents of Sport”, in My Life and Recollections. [...] Complete in Four Volumes, volume III, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 124:
- 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.
- 1870, Grantley F[itzhardinge] Berkeley, “The Fair Doe of Fernditch”, in Tales of Life and Death. [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 117:
- [W]hen the bare boughs of a tree intervened between her and the rising bright but deep red sun, frosted as the twigs were, on them sat a merry flock of sparrows, the feathers on their breasts bluffed out, as if they had donned warm winter spencers to shield them from the biting blast.
- 2002, Nick Fowler, “Sunday in the Park with Sores”, in A Thing (or Two) about Curtis and Camilla, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books, →ISBN; 1st Vintage Contemporaries edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, June 2003, →ISBN, pages 285–286:
- I remember one idle bright afternoon here when Phillip bluffed out his little chest, sneaking expectant glances back at me and Cammy, until she "restrained" him from bickering with that beagle.
Translations
to swell up
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References
- James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Bluff, v.2”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 947, column 1.
- “bluff” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Further reading
- bluff on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Bluff in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
Danish
Alternative forms
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /blœf/
Further reading
- “bluff”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Further reading
- bluff in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /blɛf/
- Rhymes: -ɛf
- Syllabification: bluff
Declension
Portuguese
Alternative forms
- (Brazil) blefe
Romanian
Declension
Swedish
Noun
bluff c
- A bluff (act of bluffing).
- Synonyms: falskspel, lurendrejeri, lögn
- Det är en bluff.
- It is a bluff.
- (poker) A bluff.
- A bluff (one who bluffs).
- Synonyms: lurendrejare, lögnare
- Han är en bluff.
- He is a bluff.
Declension
Declension of bluff | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | bluff | bluffen | bluffar | bluffarna |
Genitive | bluffs | bluffens | bluffars | bluffarnas |
Related terms
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