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bluffness

[bluhf]

Origin

adjective

good-naturedly direct, blunt, or frank; heartily outspoken: a big, bluff, generous man.

presenting a bold and nearly perpendicular front, as a coastline: a bluff, precipitous headland.

Nautical. (of the bow of a vessel) having a full, blunt form.

noun

a cliff, headland, or hill with a broad, steep face.

North Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Prairie Provinces. a clump or grove of trees on a prairie or other generally treeless area.

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Bluffness is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Origin:
1620–30; perhaps < Middle Low German blaff smooth, even, or < Middle Dutch blaf broad, flat

Related forms

bluff·ly, adverb

bluff·ness, noun

Synonyms
1. forthright, open, honest; rough, crude. See blunt. 2. abrupt, steep.

Antonyms
1. subtle.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To bluffness

Collins

World English Dictionary

bluff² (blʌf)

—n
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

—*adj*
3.	good-naturedly frank and hearty
4.	(of a bank, cliff, etc) presenting a steep broad face

[C17 (in the sense: nearly perpendicular): perhaps from Middle Dutch blaf broad]

'bluffly²

—*adv*

'bluffness²

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

bluff

1680s, from Du. blaf "flat, broad," apparently a North Sea nautical term for ships with flat vertical bows, later extended to landscape features.

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Quote Of The Day

"Good writing is always a breaking of the soil, clearing away prejudices, pulling up of sour weeds of crooked thinking, stripping the turf so as to get at what is fertile beneath. It would be amusing to carry the simile further. Those bulbs that flower in the sand and wither! The gay fiction annual that has to be planted again every year! Those experimental plants from Russia, France, and Greenwich Village that are always getting winter killed—confound 'em!—is it worth while planting them again? The stocky perennial that keeps coming up and coming up—so easy to grow and so ugly. Scarlet sage that gives a touch of fiery sin to the edge of the suburbanite's concrete walk! And then the good flowers—as honest as they are beautiful! The well-ordered gar den! The climbing rose that escapes and is the most beautiful of all!"

-Henry Seidel Canby

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