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