Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A tough or rowdy person.
  • noun A thug or gangster.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To play the ruffian; rage; raise tumult.
  • noun . A pimp; a pander; a paramour.
  • noun A boisterous, brutal fellow; a fellow ready for any desperate crime; a robber; a cutthroat; a murderer.
  • noun . The devil.
  • Licentious; lascivious: wanton.
  • Lawless and cruel; brutal: murderous; inhuman: villainous.
  • Violent; tumultuous; stormy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Brutal; cruel; savagely boisterous; murderous.
  • noun obsolete A pimp; a pander; also, a paramour.
  • noun A boisterous, cruel, brutal fellow; a desperate fellow ready for murderous or cruel deeds; a cutthroat.
  • noun A tough, lawless or bullying person.
  • intransitive verb rare To play the ruffian; to rage; to raise tumult.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A scoundrel, rascal, or unprincipled, deceitful, brutal and unreliable person.
  • verb To play the ruffian; to rage; to raise tumult.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cruel and brutal fellow

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, pimp, from Old French rufien, from Old Provençal rufian, from Old Italian ruffiano.]

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Examples

  • It does not appear, however, that the term ruffian is altogether misplaced.

    Lectures and Essays Goldwin Smith 1866

  • Uncle Angelo had a brother, Salvatore, who was known as a ruffian by most men in the streets.

    This Family of Mine VICTORIA GOTTI 2009

  • The Countess preserves her impenetrable composure; nothing in her betrays the deadly hatred with which she regards the titled ruffian who has insulted her.

    The Haunted Hotel 2003

  • The Countess preserves her impenetrable composure; nothing in her betrays the deadly hatred with which she regards the titled ruffian who has insulted her.

    The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice 1879

  • I was surprised-because while I'll do anything, myself, he didn't strike me as the sort who'd lower himself to being a whore's ruffian, which is what it amounted to.

    Isabelle Estelle Bruno 2010

  • He didn't like Ceorl, not even a little, but the ruffian was a good man to have along in a brawl.

    Rulers of the Darkness Turtledove, Harry 2002

  • I was surprised-because while I'll do anything, myself, he didn't strike me as the sort who'd lower himself to being a whore's ruffian, which is what it amounted to.

    Flashman And The Redskins Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1982

  • I was surprised-because while I'll do anything, myself, he didn't strike me as the sort who'd lower himself to being a whore's ruffian, which is what it amounted to.

    Flashman and The Redskins Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1982

  • But the ruffian is a good fellow in comparison with these well-dressed, polite scoundrels, who could have given Fielding a hint or two he would have been glad of for the characters of Mr. Jonathan Wild and his friend the Count.

    Anahuac : or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modern Edward Burnett Tylor

  • She characterized him as a "jug-guzzler," a "swashbuckler," and a "ruffian" -- and smiled as she recalled the picturesque figure with the clean-cut, bronzed face.

    The Gold Girl 1921

Comments

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  • British slang - "The devil. Cant - May the Ruffian nab the cuffin queer, and let the harmanbeck trine with his kinchins about his colquarron; may the Devil take the justice, and let the constable be hanged with his children about his neck."

    - Francis Grose, 'The Vulgar Tongue'.

    September 12, 2008

  • Ruffiano, in Italian, is a pander.

    September 12, 2008