Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense bluffs, present participle bluffing, past tense, past participle bluffed
1. variable noun
A bluff is an attempt to make someone believe that you will do something when you do not really intend to do it.
The letter was a bluff.
It is essential to build up the military option and show that this is not a bluff.
What we're at here is a game of bluff.
Synonyms: deception, show, lie, fraud More Synonyms of bluff
2. See also double bluff
3. verb
If you bluff, you make someone believe that you will do something when you do not really intendto do it, or that you know something when you do not really know it.
Either side, or both, could be bluffing. [VERB]
In each case the hijackers bluffed the crew using fake grenades. [VERB noun]
He tried to bluff his way through another test and failed it. [Vway prep]
Synonyms: deceive, lie, trick, fool More Synonyms of bluff
4.
See to call someone's bluff
5. countable noun
A bluff is a steep cliff or bank, especially by a river or the sea.
...a high bluff over the Congaree River.
Synonyms: precipice, bank, peak, cliff More Synonyms of bluff
6. graded adjective [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
If you describe someone as bluff, you mean that they have a very direct way of speaking and behaving.
He comes across as a man with a bluff exterior who, beyond that, is difficult toget to know.
Synonyms: hearty, open, frank, blunt More Synonyms of bluff
More Synonyms of bluff
bluff in British English1
(blʌf)
verb
1.
to pretend to be confident about an uncertain issue or to have undisclosed resources, in order to influence or deter (someone)
noun
2.
deliberate deception intended to create the impression of a stronger position or greater resources than one actually has
3. call someone's bluff
Derived forms
bluffer (ˈbluffer)
noun
Word origin
C19: originally US poker-playing term, from Dutch bluffen to boast
bluff in British English2
(blʌf)
noun
1.
a steep promontory, bank, or cliff, esp one formed by river erosion on the outside bend of a meander
2. Canadian
a clump of trees on the prairie; copse
adjective
3.
good-naturedly frank and hearty
4.
(of a bank, cliff, etc) presenting a steep broad face
Derived forms
bluffly (ˈbluffly)
adverb
bluffness (ˈbluffness)
noun
Word origin
C17 (in the sense: nearly perpendicular): perhaps from Middle Dutch blaf broad
bluff in American English1
(blʌf)
US
verb transitive, verb intransitive
1.
to mislead or seek to mislead (a person) by a false, bold front
2.
to frighten (a person) by threats not intended to be carried out
3.
to manage to get (one's way) by bluffing
4. Poker
to try to mislead (other players) by betting on one's hand when one knows or believes it is not the best hand
noun
5.
the act or practice of bluffing
6.
a person who bluffs
: also ˈbluffer
Word origin
17th c.: prob. < Du bluffen, to brag, boast or verbluffen, to baffle, mislead
bluff in American English2
(blʌf)
adjective
1.
having, or ascending steeply with, a broad, flat front
2.
having a rough and frank but affable manner
noun US
3.
a high, steep, broad-faced bank or cliff
SIMILAR WORDS: blunt
Derived forms
bluffly (ˈbluffly)
adverb
bluffness (ˈbluffness)
noun
Word origin
orig. a naut. term, prob. < Du blaf, flat, broad
More idioms containing
bluff
call someone's bluff
Examples of 'bluff' in a sentence
bluff
Is she bluffing to get attention?
The Sun (2017)
Do we call a possible bluff?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
This amounts to little more than a game of blind man 's bluff.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It's time we called their bluff.
The Sun (2016)
But I didn't expect to find myself wobbling with fear when they called my bluff.
The Sun (2016)
He was absolutely right about my bluffing.
Christianity Today (2000)
This could be a great game of bluff.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The consumer spending crisis has now called their bluff.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Yet his bluff and phlegmatic exterior was to some extent illusory.
Ziegler, Philip King Edward VIII - The Official Biography (1990)
The three or four monastery buildings stood alone on a grassy bluff above the river.
Marsden, Philip The Crossing-Place (1993)
He is a man of little bluff and much nous.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Then came a game of bluff with his club spread over two weeks.
The Sun (2006)
The bluff exterior conceals one of the sharpest political brains for hire.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The failure of computers to call our bluff is conclusive evidence that we are still on the winning team.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
He will use a bluff call to make contact with the target telephone and not hang up when the target does.
Croft, James Corporate Cloak and Dagger (1994)
You have to call his bluff.
The Sun (2010)
Call their bluff, get them in and ask their advice.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
According to the world of movies and soap opera, poker is all about bluffing.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
You know when others are doing it to you, so call their bluff.
The Sun (2016)
The show's executives called her bluff and she walked out.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Let's call their bluff and see what happens.
The Sun (2015)
It's time to call their bluff.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Instead they have all called his bluff, and rightly so.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Just like playing poker, it's all about bluffing.
The Sun (2015)
It was obvious his agent was trying to cook up a 10m offer but we called his bluff and his game soon went off the boil.
The Sun (2015)
He says: 'They know that you know and it becomes a big game of bluff.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
They don't bluff about their toughness and certainly eschew the model of the stoical, macho male.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
In other languages
bluff
British English: bluff /blʌf/ NOUN
A bluff is an attempt to make someone believe that you will do something when you do not really intend to do it.
The letter was a bluff.
American English: bluff
Arabic: خِدَاع
Brazilian Portuguese: blefe
Chinese: 诈骗
Croatian: blef
Czech: bluf
Danish: bluf
Dutch: bluf
European Spanish: farol
Finnish: bluffi
French: bluff
German: Bluff
Greek: μπλόφα
Italian: bluff
Japanese: 虚勢
Korean: 엄포
Norwegian: bløffmaker
Polish: blef
European Portuguese: bluff
Romanian: bluf
Russian: обман
Latin American Spanish: farol
Swedish: bluff
Thai: การแกล้งตั้งใจทำบางสิ่ง
Turkish: blöf
Ukrainian: блеф
Vietnamese: sự lừa gạt
British English: bluff /blʌf/ VERB
If you bluff, you try to make someone believe that you will do something although you do not really intend to do it, or that you know something when you do not really know it.
Either side, or both, could be bluffing.
He tried to bluff his way through another test.
American English: bluff
Arabic: يَخْدَعُ
Brazilian Portuguese: blefar
Chinese: 诈骗
Croatian: blefirati
Czech: blufovat
Danish: bluffe
Dutch: bluffen
European Spanish: marcarse un farol
Finnish: bluffata
French: bluffer
German: bluffen
Greek: μπλοφάρω
Italian: bluffare
Japanese: 虚勢を張る
Korean: 허세를 부리다
Norwegian: bløffe
Polish: zablefować
European Portuguese: fazer bluff
Romanian: a blufa
Russian: вводить в заблуждение
Latin American Spanish: fanfarronear
Swedish: bluffa
Thai: แกล้งตั้งใจทำ
Turkish: blöf yapmak
Ukrainian: блефувати
Vietnamese: lừa gạt
All related terms of 'bluff'
Pine Bluff
city in central Ark ., on the Arkansas River : pop. 55,000
double bluff
A double bluff is an attempt to deceive someone by telling them exactly what you intend to do when you know that they will assume you are lying.
call someone's bluff
to put someone in a position in which they are forced to do what they have been threatening to do because you do not believe that they will really do it
to call someone's bluff
If you call someone's bluff , you tell them to do what they have been threatening to do, because you are sure that they will not really do it.
blindman's buff
a game in which a blindfolded player has to catch and identify another player