(a.) Having a broad, flattened front; as, the bluff bows of a ship.
(a.) Rising steeply with a flat or rounded front.
(a.) Surly; churlish; gruff; rough.
(a.) Abrupt; roughly frank; unceremonious; blunt; brusque; as, a bluff answer; a bluff manner of talking; a bluff sea captain.
(n.) A high, steep bank, as by a river or the sea, or beside a ravine or plain; a cliff with a broad face.
(n.) An act of bluffing; an expression of self-confidence for the purpose of intimidation; braggadocio; as, that is only bluff, or a bluff.
(n.) A game at cards; poker.
(v. t.) To deter (an opponent) from taking the risk of betting on his hand of cards, as the bluffer does by betting heavily on his own hand although it may be of less value.
(v. t.) To frighten or deter from accomplishing a purpose by making a show of confidence in one's strength or resources; as, he bluffed me off.
(v. i.) To act as in the game of bluff.
Example Sentences:
(1) I want to follow the west bank of the river south for some 100 miles to a bluff overlooking the river, where Sitting Bull is buried – and then, in the evening, to return to Bismarck.
(2) Despite huge uncertainties over their ability to pay for carbon capture and storage technology, [Peel subsidiary] Ayrshire Power has decided to go ahead with these plans and call Labour's bluff.
(3) Suppose western leaders called Russia’s bluff and insisted on a no-fly zone over Aleppo and a safe haven in northern Syria for refugees.
(4) Salmond accused the Westminster parties of a combination of bullying and bluff.
(5) On August 2, 1991, a neurologist in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) in central Arkansas notified the Arkansas Department of Health of two patients hospitalized with St. Louis encephalitis (SLE).
(6) The impending publication of the putative nude pictures, a humiliation that turned out to be a bluff, might have pulled Watson down among the lower orders of former child stars, those people who now exist in the public consciousness merely as cautionary tales to scare naughty teenagers: “Look what happened to Bieber today!”; “Did you see Cyrus in that outfit?” Although Watson has put her head above the parapet before, the provocation cited by the hoaxers was the New York speech she gave last Monday promoting the HeForShe campaign and arguing that gender discrimination harms both men and women.
(7) This bombshell will weaken supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, chief negotiator Saeed Jalili, and the rest of Tehran's hardliner crew abroad and at home although, as usual, they will try to bluff their way through.
(8) Peggy was – I think (please correct me if not) – watching NBC’s Coogan’s Bluff knock-off McCloud which began in early 1970.
(9) Cameron added that recent warnings from banks such as Lloyds and RBS, and from firms such as BP and Shell proved that the economic and financial risks of independence were not bluff and bluster or bullying.
(10) A steady rise in the yes vote in recent opinion polls also established that voters did not buy "the bluff and bluster" of those opposed to independence.
(11) These places had their bluff called by the Occupy movement.
(12) The Zappa statue was audaciously suggested by local artists in 1992, as a slightly flippant test of their country's newfound democratic freedoms; to their surprise, the authorities called their bluff.
(13) Most of the sites are of the Bluff phase of Late Woodland in the lower Illinois River valley; others are from a nearby, contemporary archaeological phase.
(14) TV election debates: broadcasters call David Cameron's bluff Read more “They’ve chopped and changed formats, blinked under pressure, refused to consult constructively and now are absurdly threatening not to have the prime minister present.
(15) At that point the ECB’s hand may be looking quite poor – if the market doesn’t call their bluff first.
(16) Amid claims in the markets that politicians in Athens were playing a dangerous game of bluff, a potential schism in the monetary union saw borrowing costs for Spain and Italy rise over fears that contagion could spread from Greece through southern Europe.
(17) With the crisis and the payments protection insurance scandals combining to leave the financial services sector mistrusted as never before, there has never been a more opportune moment for calling the industry's bluff.
(18) This time, however, Scotland is calling the cardinal's bluff.
(19) Coren was author of more than 20 satirical books, a familiar face on television from the 1970s onwards - he was team captain on Call my Bluff - and a regular on Radio 4's News Quiz from 1975.
(20) During a career spanning three decades, she has been a regular on shows such as Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Call My Bluff, and QI, as well as fronting the travel programme Excess Baggage.
Intimidation
Definition:
(n.) The act of making timid or fearful or of deterring by threats; the state of being intimidated; as, the voters were kept from the polls by intimidation.
Example Sentences:
(1) The amount of intimidation and abuse that has taken place make it very unlikely that women will be clamouring to go back.” Another former shadow minister said they were also not convinced they would stand again.
(2) There, the US Joint Commission, an independent, non-profit organisation that accredits healthcare organisations and programmes has issued a standard on “behaviours that undermine a culture of safety” to tackle “intimidating and disruptive behaviour at work”.
(3) In these populations it is necessary to consider the relations between emotional distress and socio-political context, particularly the processes of terror and intimidation and the conditions of migratory illegality and social marginality.
(4) She said: “Begging can cause considerable concern to residents, workers and visitors, particularly those who feel intimidated by this activity.” In Merseyside, Ch Insp Mark Morgan insisted his force did not prosecute vulnerable people unless they were aggressive, repeat offenders who had failed to engage in offers of support.
(5) Diskerud has shown in flashes that he’s not intimidated by big games and is willing to try something.
(6) We’re fed up with being threatened and intimidated.
(7) A statement from al-Shabaab on Monday said the latest attack – the deadliest since Westgate – was revenge for the "Kenyan government's brutal oppression of Muslims in Kenya through coercion, intimidation and extrajudicial killings of Muslim scholars".
(8) The effort to intimidate investigators – and the apparent involvement of military police – has prompted calls for Brazil's justice ministry to declare an emergency.
(9) Reps are asked to sign a contract that includes the clause: “I will not promote the singing of abusive, offensive, crude or intimidating chants and songs.” The contract also asks reps to confirm that they are “the first representative of the University of Nottingham that new students will meet and therefore recognise that [they are] a role model”.
(10) It also said: “We should aim to break the right quickly, and teach those around us not to be intimidated by the rightwing’s longer years of service and apparently superior ‘Labour knowledge’ or prestige.” The July issue of the group’s newspaper, Solidarity, led with the headline “ Flood into the Labour party”.
(11) We express our strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions.” The G7 statement did not explicitly name China, but Beijing lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea despite conflicting partial claims from Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.
(12) The tribunal said the conduct had "the effect of violating the claimant's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment".
(13) He had told the court that Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC, had intimidated him to sell his share in the oil firm Sibneft at a massive discount.
(14) Donald Trump press ban: BBC, CNN and Guardian denied access to briefing Read more Rob Mahoney, deputy executive director of the CPJ , a nonprofit that promotes press freedom worldwide, told the Guardian Trump’s attacks on the press do not “help our work trying to deal with countries like Turkey, Ethiopia or Venezuela, where you have governments who want to nothing more than to silence and intimidate the press.” Mahoney also said attempts to favour conservative press outlets and declare the mainstream media the “enemy of the American people” looked like a deliberate effort by the White House to “inoculate itself from criticism”.
(15) I had all these brothers and uncles so I understood the nature of men and I didn't go in there feeling all intimidated.
(16) "They are happy because, at a time when talk of war, intimidation and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of Iran is spoken here through her glorious culture."
(17) He was at pains to rebut criticism in the western media over the jailing of journalists caught up in the long-running investigation into an attempted military coup and claims that the government has used the case to intimidate sections of the press.
(18) Today the Turkish government has levelled baseless and alarmingly false charges of ‘working on behalf of a terrorist organisation’ against three Vice News reporters, in an attempt to intimidate and censor their coverage,” Sutcliffe said.
(19) This whole affair was a brazen attempt to intimidate those who believe that drilling for oil in the melting Arctic is reckless and unsafe.
(20) Facebook Twitter Pinterest We will not be intimidated by Isis, says New York City mayor The city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, appeared with police commissioner Bill Bratton in Times Square at 11pm to say there was “no specific or credible threat” to the city, dismissing the video as an “obvious attempt to intimidate the people of New York”.