bluff v.
to confuse, to mislead or deter by a show of confidence or superiority; to fob off.
![]() | New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: bluff to look big, to bluster. | |
![]() | Dict. Sl. and Cant. | |
![]() | Flash Dict. | |
![]() | Modern Flash Dict. 6: Bluff – to bluster, look big. | |
![]() | Glance at N.Y. II v: Sykesy tried, but I bluffed him off. | |
![]() | Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835]. | |
![]() | Glance at N.Y. [play script] Lize: Syksey tried, but I bluffed him off — he’s got to look a little more gallus, like my Mose, afore he can commence to shine. | |
![]() | G’hals of N.Y. 16: There aint no use in tryin’ to bluff it off. [Ibid.] 135: In the belief that he had ‘bluffed off’ the b’hoy’s idea of ever getting back his money. | |
![]() | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 9: BLUFF, to turn aside, stop, or excuse. | |
![]() | Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 110/1: This Joe said in an off-handed sort of a way, as a ‘bluff;’ but Artful wasn’t to be ‘bluffed’ so easily. | |
![]() | The Tailors’ Strike in Darkey Drama 5 33: I’ll jess bluff him out of his boots! | |
![]() | Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Jan. 8/3: A rank weed our hero’s puffing, / While he tells how he’s been ‘bluffing’ / Some blind hawker of his fruit. | |
![]() | Omaha Dly Bee (NE) 12 July 7/2: My friend [...] said, ‘You are a fool. Didn’t I tell you to back Morgan? He is booked to win, sure.’ This bluffed me off. It took the pluck out of me. | |
![]() | Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Mar. 18/4: We are going, Billy Dalley, / We are going, not for long; / Just admit you ‘bluffed’ a bit, / On cards not over-strong. | |
![]() | Aus. Sl. Dict. 10: Bluff, to bluster. | |
![]() | Tramping with Tramps 252: We English fellers know how to bluff. We’ve been bluffin’ the world now for a good many years. |
In compounds
an insincere person, a confidence trickster.
![]() | Eve. Bulletin (HI) 10 Oct. 1/5: A wireless has been sent over to Captain Fetter [...] asking him to lay the bluff artist by the heels. | |
![]() | What’s In It For Me? 268: This guy Terkel is just a big bluff artist. | |
![]() | Partly Debates (NZ) June-July 671: I have known many men in Australia and in New Zealand, but I never knew a greater ‘bluff artist’ than the leader of the Opposition. |
(Aus.) a deceitful attempt to influence someone else’s conduct.
![]() | Aussie (France) 8 Oct. 14/1: I’ve noticed that those clever Shrewdies always come gutzers at the finish. They find the bluff stakes so dead easy, so they think, that they become careless. | |
![]() | (con. WWI) Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: bluff-stakes. A deceitful or mala fide attempt to influence the conduct of another. |
In phrases
to spread panic.
![]() | Hartlepool Mail 26 Jan. n.p.: To plant myself outside a shop and try and bluff the rats, / By droppin’ little ’ints abart th misses and the brats. | |
![]() | Le Slang. |
(Aus.) using influence or persuasive talk to avoid payment (e.g. for a meal).
![]() | Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Aug. 13/3: We don’t mind saying that we also had essayed, upon this national occasion of festivity, to exercise our molars ‘on the bluff.’. |