bluff

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“
It stretched nearly to the edge of a shelving bluff, fringed with pines and overlooking the river; below the bluff was a hard, narrow beach, where one might gallop a mile and bathe at the farther end.

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Definitions (36)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. transitive verb To mislead or deceive.
  2. transitive verb To impress, deter, or intimidate by a false display of confidence.
  3. transitive verb Games To try to mislead (opponents) in a card game by heavy betting on a poor hand or by little or no betting on a good one.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (16)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (42)

  • The Burlington Hawk-Eye , of a late date, in reference to this council house, says A little distance above the water works, and further around the turn of the bluff is a natural amphitheater, formed by the action of the little stream that for ages has dripped and gurgled down its deep and narrow channel to the river. —  Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black Hawk
  • And the one undeniable benefit of getting caught in a bluff is the advertising value it brings. —  Poker Player Newspaper Online
  • This bluff is a huge advantage play while the table is folding … and will again be a huge advantage play when you make a weak Badugi (K - or Q-high) and get paid off by people with
  • If your aunt et al. put up with a priest acting like a rhinoceros (misusing his power instead of using his lawful authority) instead of calling his bluff, they really have themselves to blame. —  CathNews
  • Nor calling a bluff, and in the process putting the nation in a state of paralysis. —  Yahoo! Buzz US: Top Stories
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

cliff ·  headland ·  crag ·  ravine ·  ledge ·  hillside ·  plateau ·  peak ·  rampart ·  dune ·  boulder ·  mound

Used in the same contextWord Family

bluff:   bluffs ·  bluffing
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Probably from Dutch bluffen, from Low German.
  2. Probably from obsolete Dutch blaf or Middle Low German blaff, broad.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Origin unknown; perhaps connected with Middle Dutch blaf (Kilian), flat, broad, as in blaf aensicht, a broad flat face, blaffaert, one who has a flat broad face, a coin with a blank face (see blaffert) (also a boaster, but in this sense prob. a different word, equivalent to modern D. blaffer, from blaffen, bark, yelp: see blaff). The suggested D. origin is favored by the nautical associations of the word. There is prob. no connection with bluff.
  2. English dial. also bluft, blindfold; origin uncertain, perhaps from two or more sources. The sense of ‘deceive or impose upon’ may come from that of ‘blindfold, hoodwink,’ but cf. Scots “get the bluff,” be taken in; prob. of Low German origin: Low German bluffen, verbluffen, Dutch verbluffen, later G. verblüffen = Danish forblöffe, baffle, confound, stupefy. In popular apprehension prob. often associated with bluff, a., as if ‘assume a bluff or bold front.’
  3. English dial. also blufter, a blinker: see the verb.
 

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/bləf/
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