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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Raff

Rāff, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. RAFFED (răft); p. pr. & vb. n. RAFFING.] [O. Fr. raffer, It. arraffare, N. H. Ger. raffen, M. H. Ger. reffen, L. Ger. rapen, rappen, A.-S. reafan.] [Obs.] 1. To sweep, snatch, draw, or huddle together; to take by a promiscuous sweep; to strike suddenly off. From her body, full of filthy sin, He raft her hateful head without remorse. Spenser. 2. To rob; to deprive. Spenser.

Răff, n.

noun

n. [See supra.] [Obs.] 1. A promiscuous heap; a jumble. Barrow.

Sense 2. The sweepings of society; the rabble; the mob;—chiefly used in the compound or duplicate riffraff.

Sense 3. A low fellow; a churl. [Colloq.]

Let raff be rife in prose or rhyme. Tennyson.