cruff

Crude, rough, uncouth, tough.

Adjective

  1. Crude, rough, uncouth, tough.
    • Dem gwan like ooman strong like man An cruff an rough an hard! - 1982, Louise Bennett-Coverley, “Tan-up Seat”, in Selected Poems:
    • but if he looks a bit cruff ... an’ he says, ‘Wa ’appen, son. Wa gwaan’, an’ all dem tings der, an’ you start to speak to him in English, then you just break into the Jamaican habit – patois - 1986, Roger Hewitt,...

Origin

Unknown. Compare scruff (“one with untidy appearance”), scurf (“skin disease; dandruff”). Compare also cruft, crufty (“of inferior quality”); gruff (“rough, unpolished”).

Forms

more cruff most cruff

Noun

  1. A person who is uncouth, crude, or tough.
    • Rufus was a Barbadian cruff Who got the news how Miss Ida rough. Rufus say, “Jamaica bwoi too light, So I am going to show them how to fight.” - 1955, “Rough Rider”, Alerth Bedasse (lyrics), Everard Williams (music):
    • “But the miserable cruff never did come back. He abandoned us! They say he went off into the woods to grow some exotic crop.” “Exotic Jamaican crop? It could be anything.” - 2024 September 9, Bill Odenkirk, “Planet...
  2. A lazy person; someone of little value.
    • “You still the living bumpkin from the land of Oz!” “And you’re still a cruff wid no gyal!” - 2023, Alex Wheatle, Sufferah: Memoir of a Brixton Reggae Head, page 85:

Forms

cruffs