noun

1. a high, frilled or pleated collar of starched muslin, lace, etc., worn by men and women in the 16th and 17th cent.
2. a band of distinctively colored or protruding feathers or fur about the neck of an animal or bird
3. a Eurasian sandpiper (Philomachus pugnax), the male of which grows a large ruff during the breeding season: the female is called a reeve

Etymology: contr. of ruffle,

transitive verb, intransitive verb

Etymology: OFr roffle, earlier ronfle, altered < ? triomphe: see trump

noun

noun

1. a small, spotted, European freshwater perch (Acerina cernua)
   also ruffe
2. any of various Atlantic butterfishes (genus Centrolophus)

Etymology: ME ruffe < ? rugh, rough