gruff
Plural: gruffs
Adjective Satellite
- brusque and surly and forbidding
- "gruff manner"
- "a gruff reply"
- deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness or emotion; ; ; ; - Virgil Thomson
- "gruff voices"
- "the dog's gruff barking"
Adj
- having a rough, surly, and harsh demeanor and nature.
- hoarse-voiced.
- hoarse.
- Of goods: bulky.
Verb
Verb Forms: gruffed, gruffing, gruffs
- To utter something in a rough, low, or harsh voice.
- To speak gruffly.
Noun
- Alternative spelling of grough (“gully in a moor”).
Adjective
- Abrupt in manner or speech; low and harsh sounding.
Examples
- a gruff voice
- a gruff woman
- He would GRUFF at himself for missing an obvious bingo.
- His GRUFF response to a challenge indicated his frustration with the board.
Origin / Etymology
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”).
Synonyms
crusty, curmudgeonly, hoarse, husky, ill-humored, ill-humoured
Scrabble Score: 12
gruff: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordgruff: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
gruff: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary