Here to-morrow with his best ruff on. --Shak.
His gravity is much lessened since the late
proclamation came out against ruffs; . . . they were
come to that height of excess herein, that twenty
shillings were used to be paid for starching of a
ruff. --Howell.
2. Something formed with plaits or flutings, like the collar
of this name.
I reared this flower; . . . Soft on the paper ruff
its leaves I spread. --Pope.
3. An exhibition of pride or haughtiness.
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! --L'Estrange.
4. Wanton or tumultuous procedure or conduct. [Obs.]
To ruffle it out in a riotous ruff. --Latimer.
5. (Mil.) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, not so loud as a
roll; a ruffle.
6. (Mach.) A collar on a shaft ot other piece to prevent
endwise motion. See Illust. of {Collar}.
7. (Zo["o]l.) A set of lengthened or otherwise modified
feathers round, or on, the neck of a bird.
8. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) A limicoline bird of Europe and Asia ({Pavoncella, or
Philommachus, pugnax}) allied to the sandpipers. The
males during the breeding season have a large ruff of
erectile feathers, variable in their colors, on the
neck, and yellowish naked tubercles on the face. They
are polygamous, and are noted for their pugnacity in
the breeding season. The female is called reeve, or
rheeve.
(b) A variety of the domestic pigeon, having a ruff of its
neck.
2. (Mil.) To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.
3. (Hawking) To hit, as the prey, without fixing it.
2. A state of being ruffled or disturbed; disturbance;
agitation; commotion; as, to put the mind in a ruffle.
3. (Mil.) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, not so loud as a
roll; -- called also {ruff}. --H. L. Scott.
4. (Zo["o]l.) The connected series of large egg capsules, or
o["o]thec[ae], of any one of several species of American
marine gastropods of the genus {Fulgur}. See {O["o]theca}.
{Ruffle of a boot}, the top turned down, and scalloped or
plaited. --Halliwell.
2. An old game with cards, nearly the same as whist; --
called also {ruff}. --Decker.
3. A good fellow; an excellent person. [Slang]
Alfred is a trump, I think you say. --Thackeray.
{To put to one's trumps}, or {To put on one's trumps}, to
force to the last expedient, or to the utmost exertion.
But when kings come so low as to fawn upon
philosophy, which before they neither valued nor
understood, it is a sign that fails not, they are
then put to their last trump. --Milton.
Put the housekeeper to her trumps to accommodate
them. --W. Irving.