gruff

== English == === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ɡɹʌf/ (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /ɡɹɐf/ (Northern England) IPA(key): /ɡɹʊf/ Rhymes: -ʌf === Etymology 1 === 16th century, from Dutch grof and/or Middle Low German grof (both “rough, coarse, rude”), from Old Dutch *grof or Old Saxon *grof, both from Proto-West Germanic *grob, from Proto-Germanic *grubaz (“coarse, rough”), possibly from an earlier *gahrubaz and then related with *hreubaz (“scabby, rough, scrubby”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian groaf (“rough, coarse, crude”), West Frisian grof (“rough, coarse, crude”), Low German groff (“rough, coarse, crude”), German grob (“rough, coarse, crude”), Swedish grov (“rough, coarse, crude”). ==== Adjective ==== gruff (comparative gruffer, superlative gruffest) having a rough, surly, and harsh demeanor and nature. hoarse-voiced. hoarse. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== gruff (third-person singular simple present gruffs, present participle gruffing, simple past and past participle gruffed) To speak gruffly. === Etymology 2 === ==== Noun ==== gruff (plural gruffs) Alternative spelling of grough (“gully in a moor”). 1903 August 29, Yorkshire Evening Post, page 6, quoted in the English Dialect Dictionary: They found Uttley's body on the bottom of the gruff. === Etymology 3 === Perhaps related to Dutch grof (“rough, coarse”). ==== Adjective ==== gruff (British India) Of goods: bulky. quoted in 1869, James Long, Selections from Unpublished Records of Government... (page 171) […] which by causing a great export of rice enhances the price of labour, and consequently of all other gruff, piece-goods and raw silk […] ===== References ===== Henry Yule; A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903), “gruff”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […]. == Swedish == === Etymology === Deverbal from gruffa. === Noun === gruff n argument, quarrel ==== Declension ==== === References === “gruff”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish) “gruff”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish) “gruff”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)