Meaning

1 senses

  1. To speak gruffly.

Examples

9 sentences

  1. Tom shouted at us in a gruff voice.

    ruТом на нас грубо прикрикнул. — sharptoothed

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · sharptoothed · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. Tom is a gruff man.

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · Hybrid · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. A gruff voice broke the silence.

    deEine schroffe Stimme brach das Schweigen. — Dani6187

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CM · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Ziri spoke in a gruff voice.

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · Amastan · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Yanni looks gruff but he's a very nice guy.

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · Amastan · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Origin

16th century, from Dutch grof and/or Middle Low German grof (both “rough, coarse, rude”),

16th century, from Dutch grof and/or Middle Low German grof (both “rough, coarse, rude”), from Old Dutch *grof or Old Saxon *grof, both from Proto-West Germanic *grob, from Proto-Germanic *grubaz (“coarse, rough”), possibly from an earlier *gahrubaz and then related with *hreubaz (“scabby, rough, scrubby”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

gruffs, gruffing, gruffed, gruffed
Base formgruff · to gruff
3rd person singulargruffs
Present participlegruffing
Past simplegruffed
Past participlegruffed

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theygruff
he, she, itgruffs

Past simpleLesson

all personsgruffed

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave gruffed
he, she, ithas gruffed

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill gruff

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
gruelgruellingC1gruesomeC1grumbleC1grump
gruff — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto