A Dictionary of the English Language
                        A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson
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Ruffian (verb)

View Scan · View Transcription · from Page 1728

View Scan · View Transcription · from Page 1728

To Rúffian. v.n. [from the noun.] To rage; to raise tumults; to play the ruffian. Not in use.

A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements;
If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea,
What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,
Can hold the mortise. Shakesp. Othello.

Sources: Shakespeare's Othello (45)

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Cite this page: Johnson, Samuel. "Ruffian (verb)." A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Last modified: November 12, 2012. http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/?p=6005.

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