Crossword clues for ruffian
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ruffian \Ruf"fian\, v. i.
To play the ruffian; to rage; to raise tumult. [R.]
--Shak.
Ruffian \Ruf"fian\, a. Brutal; cruel; savagely boisterous; murderous; as, ruffian rage.
Ruffian \Ruf"fian\ (r[u^]f"yan or r[u^]f"f[i^]*an; 277), n. [F. rufien, OF. ruffien, ruffian, pimp, libertine, rake; cf. Pr. & Sp. rufian, It. ruffiano; all perhaps of German or Dutch origin; cf. G. raufen to pluck, scuffle, fight, OD. roffen to pander. Cf. Ruffle to grow turbulent.]
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A pimp; a pander; also, a paramour. [Obs.]
He [her husband] is no sooner abroad than she is instantly at home, reveling with her ruffians.
--Bp. Reynolds. -
A boisterous, cruel, brutal fellow; a desperate fellow ready for murderous or cruel deeds; a cutthroat.
Wilt thou on thy deathbed play the ruffian?
--Shak.2. Hence: A tough, lawless or bullying person.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1530s, "a boisterous, brutal fellow, one ready to commit any crime," from Middle French rufian "a pimp" (15c.), from Italian ruffiano "a pander, pimp," of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Germanic source related to rough (adj.), but Dutch roffiaan, German Ruffian are said to be from French. English meaning might have been influenced by similarity of sound to rough. Related: Ruffianly.\n
\nThe Romanic words (such as Medieval Latin ruffianus, Provençal rufian, Catalan rufia, Spanish rufian) preserve the sense of "protector or owner of whores." For sense evolution in English, compare bully (n.).
Wiktionary
Brutal; cruel; savagely boisterous; murderous. n. 1 A scoundrel, rascal, or unprincipled, deceitful, brutal and unreliable person. 2 (context obsolete English) A pimp; a pander. 3 (context obsolete English) A lover; a paramour. v
To play the ruffian; to rage; to raise tumult.
WordNet
Wikipedia
A ruffian is a scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person.
Ruffian may refer to:
- Ruffian (horse) (1972–1975), a famous thoroughbred racehorse
- Ruffian (film), a 2007 television movie about the racehorse
- Ruffian Games, a Scottish games developer
- Ruffian, a chess engine
- Ruffian 23, Irish sailboat designed by Billy Brown
- Border Ruffians, pro-Slavery activists from Missouri in the American Civil War
- The Ruffian on the Stair, a 1964 British play
- HMS Bellerophon (1786), also known as Billy Ruffian
- The Ruffians, the major antagonists of the Nintendo game Sin and Punishment
- British codename of the German X-Geraet, radar system
- The Ruffian, a 1983 French-Canadian criminal adventure film
Ruffian (April 17, 1972 – July 7, 1975) was an American champion thoroughbred racehorse. Ruffian was ranked among the top U.S. racehorses of the 20th century by The Blood-Horse magazine. Her story was told in the 2007 film Ruffian.
Ruffian is an American made-for-television movie that tells the story of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred filly Ruffian who went undefeated until her death after breaking down in a nationally televised match race at Belmont Park on July 6, 1975 against the Kentucky Derby winner, Foolish Pleasure.
Made by ESPN Original Entertainment, the film is directed by Yves Simoneau and stars Sam Shepard as Ruffian's trainer, Frank Whiteley. The producers used four different geldings in the role of Ruffian. Locations for the 2007 film included Louisiana Downs in Shreveport, Louisiana and Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
Ruffian was first broadcast on June 9, 2007 on the ABC television network. The DVD was released on June 12, 2007.
Previously, ESPN Classic had broadcast a special on July 6, 2000 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of Ruffian.
This movie is also one of Laura Bailey's only major live action roles.
Usage examples of "ruffian".
They were inflamed by the likes of Missouri Senator David Achison, a rabid promoter of slavery who took a leave from the Senate to lead the Border Ruffians.
Turning, Alec found himself in the supportive grip of a scrawny young ruffian.
I acceded rather reluctantly to the proposition, though at that time I was incapable of ascertaining his intention, which was, after conducting me to a remote part of the structure, to deliver me into the hands of three ruffians, who, having covered me with a veil so thick as to exclude every object from my view, placed me upon a mule, and conveyed me, regardless of my cries, through the deepest recesses of the woods, when, having arrived at a small inn, situated at the extremity of the forest, we stopped without alighting for refreslnnent.
Anglo-Australian tunnel by two ruffians, the more savage being a jack-of-all trades whom I had previously known by sight as a hanger-on of the journalistic profession, while the other, a sinister figure in a strange tropical garb, was posing as an Artesian engineer, though his appearance was more reminiscent of Whitechapel.
Swift and sure, at ten yards off, his arrow rushed through the body of the driver, and then, with a roar as of the leaping lion, he sprang like an avenging angel into the midst of the astonished ruffians.
We know them for what they are,--ruffians in politics, ruffians in finance, ruffians in law, ruffians in trade, bribers, swindlers, and tricksters.
Both sides had severe losses and as their numbers were diminished, they were replaced by the eager, available ruffians waiting in Cimarron for the opportunity to get paid for killing each other.
Southwark on the far bank of the Thames: to some mean house, surely, there to meet a cozener or a ruffian, a man who dared not show his face in polite company.
Port Royal was full of ruffians eager to go cruising, the proceedings may often have been less regular.
Private McLean stood in the door, smoking a cutty pipe, and grinning with pride in the merry little ruffian of a terrier, who met the friendly advances of the soldiers more than half-way.
It seemed to Myron a little strange that his two intimates in his boyhood town should not have been his own family, nor Herbert Lambkin, nor any of the lively ruffians with whom he had once loafed at the livery-stable, but two familiar strangers whom, as the baby Effie May and the aloof Ted Dingle, he had seen without knowing them.
He had not entered far into the wood before he beheld a most shocking sight indeed, a woman stript half naked, under the hands of a ruffian, who had put his garter round her neck, and was endeavouring to draw her up to a tree.
Cyrus Harding evidently could not resist fifty ruffians, all well armed, who, either by penetrating by main force into Granite House, or by starving out the besieged, could obtain from them what they wanted.
It was clear that he considered Arthur and his knights to be a gang of ruffians, without breeding, without honorand certainly without the proper religious beliefs.
Was it true that the police had again been hoodwinked, justice derided, and the law set at defiance by a gang of ruffians who would have been run down in a fortnight had the police force been equal to the task entrusted to them?