Bluff | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Blŭff, a.

adjective

a. [Cf. O. Eng. blowghty, swelled, puffed.]

Sense 1. Rude or coarse in manner or appearance; surly; blustering; pompous. “Bluff visages.” Irving.

Black-browed and bluff, like Homer’s Jupiter. Dryden.

Sense 2. Sometimes in a good sense, roughly frank; outspoken; rejecting conventional forms.

There is indeed a bluff pertinacity which is a proper defense in a moment of surprise. I. Taylor.

Sense 3. Steep; bold; like a bluff.

Its banks, if not really steep, had a bluff and precipitous aspect. Judd.

noun

n. 1. A high bank, almost perpendicular, projecting into the sea or a river. “Beach, bluff, and wave, adieu.” Whittier.

Sense 2. A high bank presenting a steep or precipitous front, though it be at a distance from the sea or a river. [U. S.]

Sense 3. A game of cards. Bartlett.

verbtransitive

v. t. To repulse rudely or by gruff answers; to frighten or deter one from accomplishing his ends. [U. S.] [Low.] Bartlett.