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Riff
Definitions
- 1 Alternative form of Rif (“mountains in Morocco”). alt-of, alternative
- 2 Acronym of Resource Interchange File Format. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
- 1 A repeated melody line in a song, usually instrumental but sometimes vocal.
"Listen to one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time!"
- 2 The belly; the bowels. archaic
- 3 a jazz ostinato; usually provides a background for a solo improvisation wordnet
- 4 A clever or witty remark.
"Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life"
- 5 a Berber living in northern Morocco wordnet
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- 6 A variation on something.
"Both the Orbit and the Pinnacle are riffs on an idea sketched out in 1917 by Vladimir Tatlin for a monument to international communism."
- 7 A spoof.
"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."
- 1 To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
"She riffed on the Olympic judges, the bobsled team, then ad-libbed with a woman drinking a martini at the front table."
- 2 play riffs wordnet
- 3 To riffle.
"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."
- 4 look through a book or other written material wordnet
- 5 To tell jokes over a movie or similar performance.
"Most MSTers confine their "riffing" to original fan fiction rather than scripts from corporate-owned entertainment properties, which renders such twice-removed MSTing somewhat toothless: the cannibalizing parody of a pastiche."
Etymology
Uncertain. Perhaps a clipping of riffle, or an alteration of refrain.
Uncertain. Perhaps a clipping of riffle, or an alteration of refrain.
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.
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