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tuff

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Tuff

English

Etymology 1

From French tuffe, tuf, from Italian tufo, from Latin tōfus. Doublet of tufa.

Pronunciation

Noun

tuff (countable and uncountable, plural tuffs)

  1. (petrology) A light porous rock, now especially a rock composed of compacted volcanic ash varying in size from fine sand to coarse gravel.
    Synonym: tufa
    • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 9n:
      This is what makes an ignimbrite; the general term for this kind of volcaniclastic rock is ‘tuff’.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Adjective

tuff (comparative tuffer, superlative tuffest)

  1. (now often ironic) Eye dialect spelling of tough.
    • 1980, Joy Wilt Berry, Ernie Hergenroeder, Tuff Stuff: A Children's Book about Trauma‎, Educational Products Division, Word, Inc., →ISBN:
      Tuff Stuff teaches that while life may go smoothly most of the time, ...
    • 2000, Margaret Cavendish, “Preface to the Reader (1655)”, in Sylvia Bowerbank, Sara Mendelson, editors, Paper Bodies‎, →ISBN, page 139:
      … yet never to make us so strong as the strongest of Men, whose Sinnews are tuffer, and Bones stronger, and Joints closer, and Flesh firmer, than ours are …
    • 2003, Ronald Carter, The Routledge Guide to Modern English Writing‎ (Language Arts), Routledge, →ISBN, page 96:
      It was rave reviewed in the Caribbean Times as 'the ruffest, tuffest and the boo-yacka of all modern gangster novels'.
    • 2006, Paige Hemmis, The Tuff Chix Guide to Easy Home Improvement‎, Penguin, →ISBN, page 36:
      TUFF METER
    • 2010 January 20, Robert J. Elisberg, “CES 2020 -- Ohm on the Range”, in Huffington Post‎, retrieved 14 September 2012:
      Its Tuff-n-Tiny USB flash drive is about the size of a thumbnail. … The company insists that the "tuff" part of the name is well-earned for being waterproof, dustproof and you can drive a car over it.
    • 2011, Kristian Pope, Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling Field Guide: Legend and Lore‎, Krause Publications, →ISBN:
      Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling

Further reading

References

  • Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, tuff
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Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English tough. Attested since 1923.

Adjective

tuff (comparative tuffare, superlative tuffast)

  1. (somewhat colloquial) tough
    en tuff uppgift
    a tough task
    en tuff dag
    a tough day
    tuffa förhandlingar
    tough negotiations
    ett tufft beslut
    a tough decision
    spela tuff
    act tough
  3. (colloquial) cool; badass (see usage notes)
    Vilken tuff motorcykel!
    What a cool motorcycle!
    Om man ska vara med i ett gatugäng måste man ha ett tufft smeknamn
    If you're going to be in a street gang, you need to have a cool nickname
    göra tuffa tricks på brädan
    pull off some rad tricks on the board
    Fan vad tufft!
    Awesome!
    • 1995, De Lyckliga Kompisarna, “Allmänt tuff [Generally badass]”, in Sagoland [Fairy tale land]‎:
      Allmänt tuff. Jocke, han är allmänt tuff, och Krille, han är allmänt tuff. Allmänt tuff. Danne, han är allmänt tuff, och jag är allmänt tuff.
      Generally badass. Jocke, he [redundant in Swedish as well] is generally badass, and Krille, he is generally badass. Generally badass. Danne, he is generally badass, and I am generally badass.
Usage notes

Often with (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) bad boy (or girl) connotations when of a person. The sense of cool has (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) connotations of (somewhat) breaking social norms as well. A motorcycle might be called tuff for example, by association with bikers, "tuff musik" would commonly be something like heavy metal (considered cool and rebellious, "edgy"), and a "tuff frisyr" would be a cool and (slightly) provocative haircut. Sometimes a bit dated (or tongue-in-cheek), for example when describing music.

Declension
More information Indefinite, positive ...

1 The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
2 Dated or archaic.
3 Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Derived terms
See also

Etymology 2

Noun

tuff c

  1. (petrology) tuff
Declension
More information nominative, genitive ...

References

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