bluff1
[bluhf]
- good-naturedly direct, blunt, or frank; heartily outspoken: a big, bluff, generous man.
- presenting a bold and nearly perpendicular front, as a coastline: a bluff, precipitous headland.
- Nautical. (of the bow of a vessel) having a full, blunt form.
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- a cliff, headland, or hill with a broad, steep face.
- North Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Prairie Provinces. a clump or grove of trees on a prairie or other generally treeless area.
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Origin of bluff1
1620–30; perhaps < Middle Low German blaff smooth, even, or < Middle Dutch blaf broad, flat
Synonyms
See more synonyms for bluff on Thesaurus.com1. forthright, open, honest; rough, crude. 2. abrupt, steep.
Synonym study
1. See blunt.
Antonyms
1. subtle.
bluff2
[bluhf]
- to mislead by a display of strength, self-confidence, or the like: He bluffed me into believing that he was a doctor.
- to gain by bluffing: He bluffed his way into the job.
- Poker. to deceive by a show of confidence in the strength of one's cards.
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- to mislead someone by presenting a bold, strong, or self-confident front: That open face makes it impossible for him to bluff.
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- an act or instance or the practice of bluffing: Her pathetic story was all a bluff to get money from us. His assertive manner is mostly bluff.
- a person who bluffs; bluffer: That big bluff doesn't have a nickel to his name.
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- call someone's bluff, to expose a person's deception; challenge someone to carry out a threat: He always said he would quit, so we finally called his bluff.
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Origin of bluff2
1665–75; perhaps < Low German bluffen to bluster, frighten; akin to Middle Dutch bluffen to make a trick at cards
Synonyms
See more synonyms for bluff on Thesaurus.com1. deceive, fool, dupe, delude, hoodwink.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bluff
Contemporary Examples
Ten days later, when the dust had settled, MSF President Joanne Liu called their bluff.
It is not easy work, but it calls the bluff of those who would say “we have to take scripture seriously.”
We end the tour on a bluff overlooking a mine in the distance.
He was bluff, inspirational to the men, a brilliant tactician.
The Price of Being a Patton: Wrestling With the Legacy of America’s Most Famous GeneralTim Teeman
May 26, 2014
On a bluff overlooking the sea, he pitched a tent and lived there for the next year in near total seclusion.
Doug Kenney: The Odd Comic Genius Behind ‘Animal House’ and National LampoonRobert Sam Anson
March 1, 2014
Historical Examples
In short, though you can intimidate him, you cannot bluff him.
A Treatise on Parents and ChildrenGeorge Bernard Shaw
They ran the herds into a piskunebelow a bluff, over which they rushed and were killed.
The Trail BookMary Austin
I saw it all from the bluff, and I know the horse turned over upon you.
Chip, of the Flying UB. M. Bower
At the door she met a bluff, big man, gross from head to foot.
Her Father's DaughterGene Stratton-Porter
"The place ought to be worth thirty thousand," he said, for a bluff.
Questionable ShapesWilliam Dean Howells
bluff1
- to pretend to be confident about an uncertain issue or to have undisclosed resources, in order to influence or deter (someone)
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- deliberate deception intended to create the impression of a stronger position or greater resources than one actually has
- call someone's bluff to challenge someone to give proof of his claims
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Word Origin
C19: originally US poker-playing term, from Dutch bluffen to boast
bluff2
- a steep promontory, bank, or cliff, esp one formed by river erosion on the outside bend of a meander
- Canadian a clump of trees on the prairie; copse
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- good-naturedly frank and hearty
- (of a bank, cliff, etc) presenting a steep broad face
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Word Origin
C17 (in the sense: nearly perpendicular): perhaps from Middle Dutch blaf broad
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bluff
v.
1839, American English, poker term, perhaps from Dutch bluffen "to brag, boast," or verbluffen "to baffle, mislead." An identical word meant "blindfold, hoodwink" in 1670s, but the sense evolution and connection are unclear; OED calls it "one of the numerous cant terms ... which arose between the Restoration and the reign of Queen Anne." Extended or figurative sense by 1854. Related: Bluffed; bluffing.
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n.1
"broad, vertical cliff," 1680s, from bluff (adj.) "with a broad, flat front" (1620s), a sailors' word, probably from Dutch blaf "flat, broad." Apparently a North Sea nautical term for ships with flat vertical bows, later extended to landscape features.
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n.2
1844 as an alternative name for poker; from bluff (v.). As "an act of bluffing" by 1864.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with bluff
bluff
see call someone's bluff.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.