▪ I. bluff, a.
(blʌf)
Also 7 rarely blough.
[A nautical word of uncertain origin: it has been compared with an obsolete Du. blaf (given by Kilian 1599, in blaf aensicht broad flat face, blaf van vorhoofd, rendered by L. fronto ‘having a broad forehead’). This appears to be identical in sense with the Eng. word; but, outside Kilian, nothing is known of it.]
1. Presenting a broad flattened front; esp. a. Of a ship: Opposed to sharp or projecting, having little ‘rake’ or inclination, nearly vertical in the bows.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 4 If her stem [printed sterne] be vpright as it were, she is called Bluffe, or Bluffe-headed. Ibid. xi. 55 If shee haue but a small Rake, she is so bluffe that the Seas meet her..suddenly. 1674 Petty Disc. bef. R. Soc. 29 The chief cause, why short, bluff, undermasted Vessels sail cheaper than others. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) G iij, The former of these is called by seamen a lean, and the latter a bluff bow. 1861 G. Berkeley Sportsm. W. Prairies ix. 149 The steamer brings her bluff bows alongside. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Lean, used in the same sense as clean or sharp; the reverse of full or bluff in the form of a ship. 1873 Brit. Q. Rev. Jan., Shorter and bluffer, but handier ships. |
b. Of a shore or coast-line: ‘Presenting a bold and almost perpendicular front, rather rounded than cliffy in outline.’ Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.
| 1658 R. Franck North. Mem. (1821) 165 The pleasant banks of Ilay..where..the water runs most on a level, and the banks very blough. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) G iij, Côte en écore, a bluff or bold shore. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) V. 1823 An elevated bluff point, which we called Rock Point. 1791 Cowper Odyss. v. 486 The rude coast a headland bluff Presented. 1849 Murchison Siluria vii. 129 This rock frequently forms bluff cliffs. 1872 Dana Corals ii. 144 Every variety of slope, from the gradually inclined bed of corals to the bluff declivity. |
† c. Of a broad face or forehead of men or animals. Obs.
| 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 12 The head pretty bluff, and full of bumps on both sides. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 1144 A son of Anak for his height..Black-browed and bluff, like Homer's Jupiter. [Cf. sense 2.] |
† d. transf. to stand bluff: to stand firm or stiff. ? Obs.
| 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. ii. iii. 255 That he should have stood bluff to old bachelor so long, and sink into a husband at last. |
e. Of other objects: see quots.
| ? 1637 Trav. P. Mundy (MS. Rawl. A. 315), Peeces of wood..bluffe or blunt att both ends. 1920 Discovery Mar. 78/1 The streamline form for a kite balloon is rather bluff..and short compared with an airship. 1949 O. G. Sutton Science of Flight ii. 48 Bodies which have sharply truncated tails (such as a shell) leave behind them a large disorderly wake and have large form drag. Such shapes are called bluff bodies. |
2. fig. Of persons and their manner, actions, etc.: a. in an unfavourable sense: ‘Big, surly, blustering’ (J.); toned down in later use into ‘rough, abrupt, blunt’, and so into b.
| 1705 S. Centlivre Gamester i. 141 As bluff as a midnight constable. 1742 Pol. Ballads (1860) II. 278 Cock your great hat, strut, bounce, and look bluff. a 1745 Swift Dan Jackson's Reply Wks. 1755 IV. i. 259, I maul'd you, when you look'd so bluff. 1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 136 That capital picture..of Henry VIII...The character of his majesty's bluff haughtiness is well represented. 1788 ― Reminisc. vii. 55 A bluff Westphalian accent. 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. ix. 241 Martial arrogance..fanatical zeal, and..bluff devotion. 1848 Lytton Harold vii. 156 Finally wound up with a bluff ‘Go, or let alone.’ |
b. Good-naturedly blunt, frank, or plain-spoken; rough and hearty; usually giving the notion of personal power or energy exhibiting itself in an abrupt but good-natured way. (Perhaps the shifting of sense is due to the notion attached to the designation ‘Bluff King Hal’: cf. quot. 1762 in a.)
| 1808 Scott Marm. vi. xxxviii, That bluff King Hal the curtain drew. 1819 ― Ivanhoe xxxii, I greatly misdoubt the safety of the bluff priest. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 370 A bluff but not unpleasant countenance. 1827 Lytton Pelham xxxvi, A bluff, hearty, radical, wine merchant. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1877) II. xiv. 240 The potentate dealt with England in a bluff, kingly, Tudor-like way. 1865 Sat. Rev. 5 Aug. 181/1 Typical of bluff downright honesty. |
3. Comb., as bluff-bowed, bluff-browed, bluff-chested, bluff-headed (see sense 1 a); bluff-head, a bluff headland, the top of a bluff; also fig. as a term of contempt (cf. blockhead).
| 1699 W. Dampier Voy. III. 137 When we came abreast of the Bluff-head..we had but 7 Fathom. 1794 J. O'Keefe Wild Oats i. i, How dare you sit in my presence, you bluff-head? 1823 Byron Island ii. xxi, From the bluff-head..I saw her in the doldrums. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. iii. vii. 423 As short and as bluff-bowed as a collier, or as sharp and as choppy as a wedge. 1851 Melville Moby Dick I. xli. 304 When Adam walked..bluff-browed and fearless. Ibid. 303 Milk-white charger..small-headed, bluff-chested. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bluff-headed, when a ship has but a small rake forward on, being built with her stem too straight up. |
▪ II. bluff, n.1
(blʌf)
[f. bluff a.]
1. a. A cliff or headland with a broad precipitous face. (First used in N. America, and still mostly of American landscapes.)
| 1687 in S. Carol. Hist. & Gen. Mag. (July 1929) 131 We landed on a Bluffe where some shads were. 1707 S. Carol. Warrants for Lands (1915) 206 One hundred acres of land on the uppermost bluff. 1737 Wesley Wks. (1830) I. 63 Savannah stands on a flat bluff, so they term any high land hanging over a creek or river. 1776 L. McIntosh in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 150 A bluff or sandhill thirty feet high or more above the water. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. xv. (1850) 211 The..boundaries of the alluvial region..consist of cliffs or bluffs, which on the east side of the Mississippi are very abrupt, and are undermined by the river at many points. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1849) 45 The wild and picturesque bluffs in the neighborhood of his lonely grave. 1842 Tennyson Golden Year 76, I heard..the great echo flap And buffet round the hills from bluff to bluff. 1865 Geikie Scen. & Geol. Scot. vii. 188 Bold bluffs, that mark the limits of an ancient shore. |
b. attrib.
| 1666 in S. Carol. Hist. Soc. Coll. V. 62 The North East side is a bluffe land, rounding from the River. 1768 J. Lees Jrnl. (1911) 33 With rather blowing Weather went round that large Bluff point. 1880 Dana Man. Geol. (ed. 3) 549 The loess... In the Mississippi valley, it covers the ‘Orange sand’, forming with it the ‘Bluff formation’—so called because standing in bluffs in Missouri. 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 42/2 (Kentucky) A homogeneous buff-coloured silicious loam known as the ‘bluff’ or loess formation. 1884 Ibid. XVII. 309/2 (Nebraska) These so-called ‘bluff lands’, composed of loess materials. |
2. Canada. A grove or clump of trees.
| c 1752 W. Coats Geogr. Hudson's Bay (1852) 52 Near the same latitude, on the west main, is a bluff of wood, caled Point Mourning, from buriing one of Captain James men there. 1895 Times 13 Sept. 12/3 [Manitoba.] Level or rolling prairie with scattered ‘bluffs’ (small patches of wood) in some districts. 1912 N. L. McClung Black Creek Stopping-House 209 The Fourth came in a glorious day..with birds singing in every poplar bluff. 1959 Country Guide (Winnipeg) Apr. 71/1 The cabin still stood in the bluff above the pass. |
▪ III. bluff, n.2
[Belongs to bluff v.1: analogically with bridle, bit, blind, cover, either the verb or the n. might come first and give rise to the other; here the accessible evidence is in favour of the priority of the verb, though, in the obscurity of the etymology, certainty is not at present possible.]
1. A blinker for a horse. Obs. or dial.
| 1777 Darwin Squinting in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 88 Bluffs used on coach-horses. 1881 Evans Leicestersh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Bluft, anything used to cover the eyes, such as a blinker for a horse, a board fastened in front of the eyes of a bull or cow to prevent its running, the handkerchief used to bandage the eyes in blind-man's-buff, etc. |
2. slang. ‘An excuse.’ Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 217 (in a list of slang words). ? A false excuse intended to blindfold or hoodwink, a ‘blind’.
3. a. The action of bluffing at cards, in the game of poker; see bluff v.1 and cf. brag; also = poker n.4 Hence, challenging or boastful language or demeanour, not intended to be carried out, but merely ‘tried on’ with the design of frightening or influencing an opponent who allows himself to be imposed upon by it. (First used in U.S.) So to call one's (or the) bluff (orig. U.S.); fig. to make a person show his ‘hand’; so, to accept a challenge or invite a showdown; cf. call v. 1 e (b); to run a bluff on (U.S.): to use bluff against or practise deception on (someone).
| 1846 S. Smith Theatr. Apprent. 148 The game of ‘bluff’ or ‘poker’, as it is more generally called. 1848–60 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Bluff, a game of cards. [So in Webster 1864.] 1866 Harvard Mem. Biographies I. 400 It is a very magnificent game of Bluff that we are playing. 1876 B. Harte Two Men of Sandy Bar 17 But suppose that he sees that little bluff, and calls ye. 1883 L'pool Daily Post 22 Jan., The whole is a bluff to influence the..election next week. 1883 Pall Mall G. 3 Nov. 1/1 A bold bit of play in the game of bluff..between St. Petersburg and Sophia. 1884 Boston (U.S.) Jrnl. 25 Sept., The offer was only a bluff. 1887 F. Francis Jr. Saddle & Mocassin 130 ‘You got the stock, though?’ ‘Oh,—yes! I run a bluff on 'em.’ 1891 Chambers's Jrnl. 26 Sept. 618/2 A man may have a big name as a fighting man and yet not be able always to run a bluff on people so easily. 1896 Congress. Rec. 26 Mar. 3248 Where shall we be when the bluff is called? 1898 Times 4 Nov. 3/6 The policy of the Russian Foreign Office..has been a series of prodigious bluffs. Some of these Lord Salisbury has seen fit to ‘call’; others he has refrained from ‘calling’. 1933 Discovery Sept. 282/2 The childish questioner will very quickly call our bluff. |
b. attrib. as bluff game.
| 1846 J. J. Hooper Adv. Simon Suggs x. 129 ‘No!’ said Simon.., ‘the bluff game ain't played here!’ 1888 St. Louis Globe Democrat 29 Apr. (Farmer), They..thought he could outnumber them. It was a bluff game, and he won. |
4. A bluffer. U.S.
| 1904 S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories ii. 27 ‘You're a bluff!’ said he, insultingly. |
▪ IV. bluff, v.1
[Immediately related to bluff n.2 ‘a blinker for a horse’, which, as it appears later than the verb, was presumably named from it, though the reverse is also possible. The etymology is quite unknown: the meaning ‘blindfold, hoodwink’ does not appear to have any possible connexion with bluff a. or n.1; the word is probably one of the numerous cant terms (see bam, bamboozle) which arose between the Restoration and the reign of Queen Anne. Sense 2 had certainly originally the same meaning; but it looks as if recent users imagined a connexion with bluff a. or n.1, and made it mean ‘to blindfold or hoodwink by assuming a fictitious bold front’.]
1. trans. ‘To blind-fold or hood-wink’. Bailey.
| 1674–91 Ray N.C. Wds., Bluff, to blind-fold. 1706 in Phillips. 1721 in Bailey: [so in all edd. to 1800. Not in Johnson, nor in Ash.] 1881 Evans Leicestersh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v. Bluft, ‘Ah'm glad yew'n got that theer bull o' yourn blufted.’ |
2. In the game of poker: To impose upon (an opponent) as to the value of one's hand of cards, by betting heavily upon it, speaking or gesticulating or otherwise acting in such a way as to make believe that it is stronger than it is, so as to induce him to ‘throw up’ his cards and lose his stake, rather than run the risk of betting against the bluffer. (Of U.S. origin.) Hence, transf. of other wagering, political tactics, international diplomacy, etc. to bluff off: to frighten off or deter (an opponent) by thus imposing upon him as to one's resources and determination.
| 1846 S. Smith Theatr. Apprent. 149 Inasmuch as I believe you only trying to bluff me off, I go two hundred. a 1859 N.Y. Spirit of Times (Bartlett), ‘I goes you five dollars this time,’ says Jim... ‘I..goes you ten better,’ said Bill; ‘you ain't agoin' to bluff dis child.’ 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 29 Sept., How can you hope to ‘bluff’ those who are such consummate masters of the game of brag? 1871 Daily News 4 Jan., The great point..is the shutting in of Paris, and the ‘bluffing off’ of France. 1885 N. York Weekly Sun 13 May 2/7 He went his whole heart, soul, and pocket on three aces and was bluffed by his opponent with a pair of trays. |
3. intr. To practise or attempt the imposition described in 2; to assume a bold, big, or boastful demeanour, in order to inspire an opponent with an exaggerated notion of one's strength, determination to fight, etc.
| 1854 Congress. Globe 3 May 1070 We both know how that game [of brag] is played. I thought I would bluff back on him. 1882 Sat. Rev. 1 July 4 Nor is a Government always to be reproached because when it bluffs it fails. Sometimes a great country is entitled to take the benefit of ancient policy of courage, and to see what effect it can produce by the mere terror of its name. 1883 Longm. Mag. Sept. 498 By sheer bluffing—in other words, by lying. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 12 Jan. 4/1 There seems little reason for one party to keep on ‘bluffing’ when the other party has ‘called’. |
Hence ˈbluffable a., capable of being imposed upon or influenced by bluffing.
| 1885 Sat. Rev. 30 May, The whole thing is..a game of bluff against a player who is known to be bluffable. |
▪ V. bluff, v.2 Obs. or dial.
[? Onomatopœic, associated with blow, puff. According to Halliwell, ‘A tin tube through which boys blow peas is in Suffolk called a {oqq}bluff{cqq}.’ Cf. blought, bloughty.]
intr. To swell out, become distended.
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 483 Pigs would bluff & swell much with their feeding the first six or seven days. |
▪ VI. bluff, v.3 rare.
[f. bluff a.]
trans. To make bluff, raise bluffly.
| 1809 J. Barlow Columb. i. 643 Where dread Niagara bluffs high his brow. |