tuff

See also: Tuff

English

Etymology 1
Etruscan tuff blocks

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

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /tʌf/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌf
  • Homophone: tough

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
  • tufflava
Translations

Adjective

tuff (comparative tuffer, superlative tuffest)

  1. 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 2012-09-14:
      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

Swedish

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /tɵf/

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
    spela tuff
    act tough
  2. (colloquial) cool
Usage notes

Often with (sometimes jocular or ironic) bad boy (or girl) connotations when of a person. The sense of cool has 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
Inflection of tuff
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular tuff tuffare tuffast
Neuter singular tufft tuffare tuffast
Plural tuffa tuffare tuffast
Masculine plural3 tuffe tuffare tuffast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 tuffe tuffare tuffaste
All tuffa tuffare tuffaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic
Derived terms

Noun

tuff c

  1. (petrology) tuff
Declension
Declension of tuff 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative tuff tuffen tuffer tufferna
Genitive tuffs tuffens tuffers tuffernas

References
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