riff
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɹɪf/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪf
- Homophone: Rif
Etymology 1
Uncertain. Perhaps a clipping of riffle, or an alteration of refrain.
Noun
riff (plural riffs)
- A repeated instrumental melody line in a song.
- 2009 November 27, “Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff'”, in BBC:
- Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has been named the greatest guitar riff of all time, 41 years after it was recorded, in a poll by website Music Radar.
- Listen to one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time!
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- A clever or witty remark.
- 2015 September 27, “Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life”, in USA Today:
- Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life
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- 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.
- 2012, The Economist, London Skyline: Tower Power
- A spoof.
- 2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 7 December 2017:
- The creative team has experience with spoofing: Both [Paul] Rudd and [Amy] Poehler had parts in [David] Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer, a hysterically irreverent riff on ’80s summer-camp comedies.
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Translations
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Verb
riff (third-person singular simple present riffs, present participle riffing, simple past and past participle riffed)
- To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
- 2006, Janet Tashjian, Fault Line: A Novel, →ISBN:
- She riffed on the Olympic judges, the bobsled team, then ad-libbed with a woman drinking a martini at the front table.
- 2011, Edward Glaeser, Triumph of the City, →ISBN:
- They were great architects deeply enmeshed in an urban chain of innovation; Wright riffed on Sullivan's idea of form following function, and Sullivan riffed on Jenney, and Jenney relied on the fireproofing innovations of Peter B. Wight.
- 2014, Johann P. Arnason, Religion and Politics: European and Global Perspectives, →ISBN, page 59:
- For Holyoake a strategic advantage of his newly coined label was the way it riffed on the term 'secular' in the Western Christian imaginary.
- 2014, Edward Stewart, Privileged Lives, →ISBN:
- He riffed an upward arpeggio and in a smooth, slightly neutered baritone began singing “Baby Face.”
- 2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 21 November 2019:
- In particular, Ralph Breaks The Internet riffs a lot on its enormous parent company, from that princess bit to the Sterling Holloway tone that new good-luck charm Alan Tudyk brings to his vocal performance to a goof on the de facto parenting advice that’s at the heart of so many Pixar movies.
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- To riffle.
- 2010, Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind, →ISBN:
- He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a wellworn deck of cards. He hated Saturday duty. He cut the deck and riffed the two halves together.
- 2012, Jane Roberts, Triple Challenge: '69 to '70, →ISBN, page 173:
- He was gracious enough to thank her, and briefly riffed through the pages before putting it in his briefcase.
- 2014, Miles Swarthout, The Last Shootist, →ISBN:
- The man reached inside a pocket of the black broadcloth coat he'd draped over the back of his chair and withdrew a deck of cards, which he fanned in one hand, then bent back and riffed rapidly into the palm of his other.
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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”). Distant doublet of corpus, corpse, and corse.
Noun
riff (plural riffs)
- (anatomy, archaic) The belly; the bowels.
Derived terms
- midriff
See also
- riff-raff
- riffraff
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English riff.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /rɪf/
- Hyphenation: riff
- Rhymes: -ɪf
- Homophone: rif
Noun
riff m (plural riffs, diminutive riffje n)
- (music) riff
Derived terms
- gitaarriff
French
Etymology
From English riff.
Noun
riff m (plural riffs)
- (music) riff
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English riff.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈrif/
- Rhymes: -if
- Hyphenation: rìff
Noun
riff m
- (music, neologism, chiefly in translations from English) riff
- Synonym: ritornello
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English riff
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈrif/ [ˈrif]
- Rhymes: -if
- Syllabification: riff
Noun
riff m (plural riffs)
- (music) riff
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.