different between rief vs riff

English

Etymology

See reaf and reave.

Noun

rief (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of reif (robbery).
   • 1567 July 19, Proclamation by the Earl of Bedford, quoted in Calendar of State Papers, foreign series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, 1566-8 (1871), volume 10:

     [The earl] commands all within his charge to abstain from reiving or stealing from the subjects of Scotland. For such riefs as have been made upon them, the Queen minds to have the same mended by justice.

   • 1822, Alexander Peterkin, Notes on Orkney and Zetland, page 61:

     here the record is quite defaced and worn out, insomuch that only the words of the charge, viz. extortions, insolvencies, riefs, and oppressions, can be discovered

   • 1884, James Taylor, The Pictorial History of Scotland, volume 2, page 133:

     Murders, riefs, and spoliations became more common on the Borders after this raid than they had ever been before.

References

• rief in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• -fier, FIRE, Fier, Frie, fier, fire, refi, reif, rife

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i?f/
• Rhymes: -i?f

Verb

rief

1. first/third-person singular preterite of rufen

Scots

Noun

rief

1. Alternative form of reif
   • 1820, David Carey, Lochiel; Or, The Field of Culloden, volume 2, page 157:

     Why he should na be treated as ane o' the wicked thieves and limmers o' the clans wha carry off their neighbours gear and live by rief, […]

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??f/
• Rhymes: -?f
• Homophone: Rif

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Perhaps a clipping of riffle, or an alteration of refrain.

Noun

riff (plural riffs)

1. A repeated instrumental melody line in a song.

   Listen to one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time!

2. A clever or witty remark.
3. A variation on something.
   • 2012, The Economist, London Skyline: Tower Power

     Both the Orbit and the Pinnacle are riffs on an idea sketched out in 1917 by Vladimir Tatlin for a monument to international communism.

4. A spoof.

Translations

Verb

riff (third-person singular simple present riffs, present participle riffing, simple past and past participle riffed)

1. To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
2. To riffle.

Etymology 2

From Middle English *rif (found only in midrif), from Old English hrif (“the belly; womb”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrif, from Proto-Germanic *hrefaz (“body; torso; belly”), from Proto-Indo-European *krep- (“body”). Doublet of corpus.

Noun

riff (plural riffs)

2. (anatomy, archaic) The belly; the bowels.

Derived terms

• midriff

See also

• riff-raff
• riffraff

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English riff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /r?f/
• Hyphenation: riff
• Rhymes: -?f
• Homophone: rif

Noun

riff m (plural riffs, diminutive riffje n)

1. (music) riff

Derived terms

• gitaarriff

French

Etymology

From English riff.

Noun

riff m (plural riffs)

1. (music) riff

Italian

Etymology

From English riff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?rif?/
• Hyphenation: rìff

Noun

riff m (plural riff)

1. (music, neologism, chiefly in translations from English) riff

   Synonym: ritornello

Spanish

Etymology

From English riff

Noun

riff m (plural riffs)

1. (music) riff