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comparative more ruffianly, superlative most ruffianly
Like or having the qualities of a ruffian. quotations examples
Joseph mumbled indistinctly in the depth of the cellar, but gave no intimation of ascending; so his master dived down to him, leaving me vis-à-vis the ruffianly bitch and a pair of grim shaggy sheepdogs […].
1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, section I
One righteous man who reverences the GodsShall shipmate be with a ruffianly crew[…].
1922, “The Seven against Thebes”, in Geoffrey Montagu Cookson, transl., Four Plays of Aeschylus, page 136
In the manner of a ruffian. examples