How To Use Ruffian In A Sentence
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Having savored victory, the ruffians moved on to attack the homes of well-known abolitionists in the neighborhood.
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When he was fairly mastered, after one or two desperate and almost convulsionary struggles, the ruffian lay perfectly still and silent.
Chapter LIV
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Upon it, in lieu of the dogged, black – visaged ruffian they had expected to behold, there lay a mere child: worn with pain and exhaustion, and sunk into a deep sleep.
Oliver Twist
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Well, then," returned the ruffian, "to put you out o 'suspense, as the topsman remarked to poor Tom Sheppard, afore he turned him off, I'm come to make you an honourable proposal o' marriage.
Jack Sheppard A Romance
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If the lowest ruffian may stab your good name with impunity in England, will you be so uncandid as to exclaim against Italy for the practice of common assassination?
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
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He helped me over the difficulty with the ruffian.
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And before any person could take notice thereof, hee became (of a theefe) Ruffian, forswearer, and murtherer, as formerly he had-beene a great Preacher; yet not abandoning the forenamed vices, when secretly he could put any of them in execution.
The Decameron
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Even the tsotsis, the unkempt street ruffians of the 1930s, began to embrace the quest for style in the 1950s.
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The ruffian threatened to run his victim through if he did not hand over all his money.
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I sobbed and wept so that my eyes were almost blind; and the ruffian you have such sympathy with stood opposite: presuming every now and then to bid me "wisht," and denying that it was his fault; and, finally, frightened by my assertions that I would tell papa, and that he should be put in prison and hanged, he commenced blubbering himself, and hurried out to hide his cowardly agitation.
Wuthering Heights
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In 1794 the ruffians, Danton and Robespierre, fell in succession, and expiated their crimes (if indeed such crimes be expiable at all) on that guillotine which they had so often deluged with the blood of innocence, even of female innocence and beauty.
Celebration in Baltimore of the Triumph of Liberty in France
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It's all complemented with the serious pathos of Hattori's sickly and melancholy wife and naturally the full-tilt violence with numberless ruffians and no-account villains feeling Zatoichi's cold steel.
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A little bit further, pushed out of sight of the ruffianly soldier in suit and tie, a few protesters too few, who were still saving the opposition honor in this France visit, which was as much propaganda as business, with a strong oil smell.
Chavez in Paris: an American in Paris it is not*
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When it was a kitten some young Plymborough roughs had hurled it into the little river, and were making of it what they termed a "cockshy," pelting it with stones, fortunately ineffectually, and trying to beat it under water, when the Doctor's footman, who was crossing the bridge, saw what was going on and made an unexpected charge upon the young ruffians, effectually scattering them.
Glyn Severn's Schooldays
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Even the tsotsis, the unkempt street ruffians of the 1930s, began to embrace the quest for style in the 1950s.
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Obviously, it was a case of collusion between the state and the lawbreaking ruffians.
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Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. Thomas Paine
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He was the manifest ruffian, wencher, whoremonger, and most infamous cuckold-maker that ever breathed.
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His pose, the tilt of his head, a dozen small changes I could see but not define, turned him into the ruffian he had first appeared to be.
LORD OF THE SILENT
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The ruffian took the entire brunt of the fall, cushioning the impact somewhat for Trrol and simultaneously throwing up jets of dust and detritus.
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Such rowdy, ruffianly, and apparently motiveless violence has a much longer history than the term hooligan.
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He associated with tramps and beggars, whores and ruffians.
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Then, while all of the security guards are busy restraining the ruffians, walk straight backstage and wait for an opportunity to talk to whomever you want.
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Her chair had been stopped by a highway-man: the great oaf of a servant-man had fallen down on his knees armed as he was; and though there were thirty people in the next field working when the ruffian attacked her, not one of them would help her; but, on the contrary, wished the Captain, as they called the highwayman, good luck.
Barry Lyndon
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A rough, violent person who engages in destructive actions: mug, roughneck , rowdy, ruffian, tough. Informal toughie. Slang hood, punk.
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He shunned the fury of the senses and what Keats called ‘ruffian passion’, which Boucher perceived as not merely unpolished and irrational but also as supremely unaesthetic.
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The ruffians had started a fire in the refectory grate, burning logs dragged in from the woods.
SOMEWHERE EAST OF LIFE
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And he had traveled many places, heard rumors of all sorts, and been threatened by ruffians and rogues who would have stolen from him or killed him; he had felt fear then.
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The tactics of the violent ruffians failed in this year's election.
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The news that David Cameron is picking the wings from Brown like a ruffianly boy with an insect at PMQs does not improve my mood as the odour of mendacity permeates everything while this toxicity infects the country ..
He Towers Above Us
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Vidocq served a lucrative apprenticeship with various ruffians, vagabonds and swindlers.
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Well, see, this story won't be going up for download, I'm afraid, as it's a pressie and all, but I'll be including new donors up till Hogmanay, so if yer donates for the current story, "An Alfabetcha of Scruffian Names," yer gets "A Scruffian Christmas" alongs with it yeah?
Archive 2009-12-01
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At one of the windows of the palace, a tall man in a flowing white robe, with a naked sabre in one hand and a musquetoon in the other, which, from the smoke still issuing from its muzzle, had apparently just been discharged, stood defending himself desperately against a band of fierce and bearded ruffians, who swarmed up a rope ladder fixed below the window.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 342, April, 1844
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'He's better than any ruffianly bodyguard or holiday tutor.
An Open Letter to Fans of South Plains Football
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During the previous summer, due to the ongoing threat of violence at the hands of Missouri border ruffians, the conventioneers had appealed to the federal government to protect them - a plea Pierce ignored.
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Some local ruffians are responsible for this.
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Obviously, it was a case of collusion between the state and the lawbreaking ruffians.
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There are people all over the United States to whom the mere mention of the word mountaineer evokes a fantastic picture -- a whiskey-soaked ruffian with bloodshot eyes and tobacco-stained beard, wide-brimmed felt cocked over a half-cynical eye, finger on the trigger of a long-barreled squirrel rifle.
Blue Ridge Country
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Six or seven ruffianly fellows scrambled out; all had enough English to give me 'good - bye,' which was the ordinary salutation; or 'good-morning,' which they seemed to regard as an intensitive; jests followed, they surrounded me with harsh laughter and rude looks, and I was glad to move away.
In the South Seas
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the more ruffianly element
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His pose, the tilt of his head, a dozen small changes I could see but not define, turned him into the ruffian he had first appeared to be.
LORD OF THE SILENT
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For the ruffianish pages of Jack London, the pungent, hospitable smell of a first-class bar-room -- that indescribable mingling of Maryland rye, cigar smoke, stale malt liquor, radishes, potato salad and _blutwurst_.
Damn! A Book of Calumny
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The ruffian flicked the knife open.
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The ruffians wore goatskin hats, gritty cloaks, and leggings of leather, all diffusing the odor of a hundred bathless nights and days.
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It is an excellent thing for ruffianism and an admirable thing for the police to be on such intimate juggling terms with the night.
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If yer can draw, why, an home-made virtual Christmas card, on a Scruffians theme, like -- that'd be peachy.
A Scruffian Christmas
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She stops to rescue a cat being teased by a couple of ruffians.
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He too, the boy thinks, has known hard times: the bully on the next block, the ruffians in his third grade class.
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The ruffian casual laughs at him, and sings funny and oftentimes libellous songs concerning him as he breaks stones or picks oakum.
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IV. i.60 (228,3) [This ruffian hath botch'd up] I fancy it is only a coarse expression for _made up_, as a bad taylor is called a _botcher_. and to botch is to make clumsily.
Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies
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As for violence, though there is tripping in soccer, it is a pantywaist affair when compared to the ruffians of ice hockey or the fearful hitting of pro football.
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Within a few hours even the toughest of the tough ruffians would break down and start confessing.
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But in the dead of night, who should come in but James Desmond, sword in hand, with a dozen of his ruffians at his heels, each with his glib over his ugly face, and his skene in his hand.
Westward Ho!
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There will be a siring of carts and mules on a certain part of the coast, and a most ruffianly lot of men, men you understand, men with wives and children and sweethearts, who from the very moment they start on a trip risk a bullet in the head at any moment, but who have a perfect conviction that I will never fail them.
The Arrow of Gold
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In _lanthorn_, another word adduced by Mr. White, the _h_ is a vulgarism of spelling introduced to give meaning to a foreign word, the termination being supposed to be derived from the material (horn) of which lanterns were formerly made, -- like _Bully Ruffian_ for _Bellerophon_ in our time, and
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 16, February, 1859
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They used to say soccer is a gentleman's game played by ruffians and rugby is a ruffian's game played by gentlemen.
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To that end I called a hackney-coach, not greatly caring, I confess it, to be seen in broad daylight in London streets with such an astonishing pair of guys as poor old Ruffiano and his friend.
In Direst Peril
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But Morgan makes enemies right away when he foils a mugging by a gang of local ruffians.
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Then he called our ruffianly scallywags of a crew on to the main deck, eyed them up and down, and ignoring our captain, asked me how many pairs of handcuffs were on board.
The Call Of The South 1908
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In early twentieth-century Chicago, where guns were readily available, local ruffians were less inclined to announce that they would abide no disrespect or take on all corners.
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The tale of the most frightsome hound as ever haunted London, and of Yapper, the Scruffian as learned to speak dog, the Scruffian as tamed Whelp ... well, as near to tamed him as that snarling, slavering, scurrilous cur of a canine ever could be tamed.
Archive 2010-03-01
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She exchanged some words in a whisper with three or four ruffianly looking men, and said that she could let us have
The Romance of Isabel Lady Burton
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He was, in fact, a leader of a gang of Essex ruffians, whose speciality was robbery with violence.
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Why, if he ain't, he'll haunt us, the old ruffian, gig-lamps an 'all!
Flashman And The Mountain Of Light
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Plus, he's going to take scrapings and hair samples from inside Ruffian's helmet.
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Amidst the many ruffians scattered about the bar, this visitor wearing a brown cotton suit with matching cream tie stood out like a solitary star in the nighttime sky.
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Well, that's what I call hearty!" continued the ruffian, following his example.
Mark Hurdlestone Or, The Two Brothers
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Catholic bishop of Ossory, who lived at the time these acts were still in force, records that "the priest-catchers 'occupation became exceedingly odious both to Protestants and Catholics," and that himself had seen "ruffians of this calling assailed with a shower of stones, flung by both Catholics and Protestants.
A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics - Volume 2
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From his seat on the bench, the Scruffian who didn't know he was a Scruffian yet, who didn't even quite know what a Scruffian was, watched the other kids in the park, half-wishing he was like them, with their homes and happy families -- well, families, at least -- and half-hoping he would never be like them, never.
Scruffians Stamp
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Had it no essential sacredness, no _noli-me-tangere_ quality of shining away the gambler's covetous glance, of withering his rude and venturous hand, or of poisoning, like some Nessus 'shirt, the lewd ruffian who might soon thereafter wear it?
The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper
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Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. Thomas Paine
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Some local ruffians are responsible for this.
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The six pinioned ruffians were standing, and still preserved their spectral mien; all three besmeared with black, all three masked.
Les Miserables
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We jail-birds stick together, and he was obviously a man of power and influence - why, he was probably on dining-out terms with half the badmashes* (* Ruffians.) and cattle-thieves between here and Jallalabad, and if necessary he'd give me an escort; we could travel as horse-copers, or something, for with my Persian and Pushtu I'd have no difficulty passing as an Afghan.
The Sky Writer
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As the proportion of homicides committed with firearms surged, even the swaggering ruffians of local bars may have thought twice before challenging any and all onlookers.
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August 27th, 2006 at 1: 24 am PDT preempt microprogram alderman ruffianly: barbaric?
BlogBeat Rocking The Blog Stat Beats!
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Sanction did make no mention of it, and that the holy Pope to everyone gave liberty to fart at his own ease, if that the blankets had no streaks wherein the liars were to be crossed with a ruffian-like crew, and, the rainbow being newly sharpened at Milan to bring forth larks, gave his full consent that the good woman should tread down the heel of the hip-gut pangs, by virtue of a solemn protestation put in by the little testiculated or codsted fishes, which, to tell the truth, were at that time very necessary for understanding the syntax and construction of old boots.
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel
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A few days earlier a ruffian had snatched a woman's chain.
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Come hither, and I will show thee in this platterful of fair fountain-water thy future wife lechering and sercroupierizing it with two swaggering ruffians, one after another.
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel
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A bearded ruffian, whose only costume was a flannel shirt and a pair of seedy check trousers, but whose eye was as keen as a hawk's, and whose shining "matchlock" had seventeen notches [24] along its stock, caught the subaltern's query.
On the Heels of De Wet
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In this manner innumerable low ruffians have obtained the estates and houses of their lords; but, faithful to their old habits and early origin, they abuse only what they possess; live in the stables, and convert the castle into a barn, a granary, a brew-house, a manufactory, or sometimes dilapidate it brick by brick, as their convenience may require.
Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808
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He shunned the fury of the senses and what Keats called ‘ruffian passion’, which Boucher perceived as not merely unpolished and irrational but also as supremely unaesthetic.
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No cooked food could be sold, and shops were not to shelter ruffians, thieves, or prostitutes.
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For all the respectable clothes they wore, they had the looks of ruffians about them.
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Some local ruffians are responsible for this.
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‘None of your mistering,’ replied the ruffian; ‘you always mean mischief when you come that.
Oliver Twist
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Whenever he sees this colour, he turns into a raging, seething, out-of-control ruffian!
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Most gate guards in Shemite cities were usually not quite prepared for trouble as ruffians of all kinds routinely traveled between the various city-states.
Conan Fan Fiction!
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The gangs belt the city like a huge chain from the Battery to Harlemthe collective name of the chain gang has been given to their scattered groups in the belief that a much closer connection exists between them than commonly supposedand the ruffian for whom the East Side has became too hot, has only to step across town and change his name, a matter usually much easier for him than to change his shirt, to find a sanctuary in which to plot fresh outrages.
XIX. The Harvest of Tares
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She was an outlaw; men called her a "corsair," and spoke of Semmes the captain as though he had been some ruffianly Blackbeard sailing the black flag with skull and cross bones for his grisly ensign.
Recollections of a naval life : including the cruises of the Confederate States steamers, "Sumter" and "Alabama",
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These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians.
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Though he's not initially invited, a wild ruffian named Kikuchiyo insinuates himself into the ranks of the warrior class.
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I do apologise for my ruffianly appearance, ma'am.
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Ah, that's what I call cry-baby talk," said the old ruffian; "I always say that if a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth doing thoroughly.
The Silent Isle
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I felt detached, noticing details of my surroundings with a peculiar intensity: the small stained-glass inset over the bar, casting colored shadows over the ruffianly proprietor and his wares, the curve of the handle on a copper-bottomed dipper that hung on the wall next to me, a green-bellied fly struggling on the edges of a sticky puddle on the table.
Sick Cycle Carousel
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The brightest spot in their character is an abnormal development of adhesiveness, popularly called affection; it is somewhat tempered by capricious ruffianism, as in children; yet it entitles them to the gratítude of travellers.
Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo
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If yer can draw, why, an home-made virtual Christmas card, on a Scruffians theme, like -- that'd be peachy.
A Scruffian Christmas
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On New Year's Day 1753 an eighteen-year-old London maidservant called Elizabeth Canning was abducted in the City by two ruffians.
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But at the sight of her bulging, portless sides and merchant rig a shout of exultation broke from amongst them, and in an instant they had swung round their fore-yard, and darting alongside they had grappled with her and flung a spray of shrieking, cursing ruffians upon her deck.
The Last Galley Impressions and Tales
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Good heavens, you could have been killed going into a den of ruffians like that.
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Presently the man whistled and another ruffianly person sprang out from near the gate at the corner of the Grotto-field and joined his companion.
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Albert is a regular at this place, bringing along his gang of ruffians and louts to watch him eat sloppily and hurl insults at everyone that walks by.
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It must be remembered that the testimony was not upon oath, and that the deponent was a ruffian.]
The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)
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He shut his face out for a moment, with the hand that again wandered over his forehead, and then it lowered on Redlaw, reckless, ruffianly, and callous.
The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain
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Some local ruffians are responsible for this.
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Ruffian as he looks, the first word he speaks — to a lady, at least — places him on a level with educated gentlemen, and his conversation is brilliant, and full of the light and fitfulness of genius.
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
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He whomped the ruffian on the skull.
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Bully Bottom" in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, later an overbearing ruffian, especially a coward who abuses his strength by ill-treating the weak; more technically a _souteneur_, a man who lives on the earnings of a prostitute.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"
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These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians.
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'None of your mistering,' replied the ruffian; 'you always mean mischief when you come that.
Oliver Twist
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Well, so long as he could hide his emotions when they crossed paths with the thieves - bullies and ruffians were always drawn to the fearful.
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Besides Ruffian-clad celebutantes, there were editors, artists, fashion folk, and the ubiquitous Patrick McDonald.
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But Morgan makes enemies right away when he foils a mugging by a gang of local ruffians.
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He was the manifest ruffian, wencher, whoremonger, and most infamous cuckold-maker that ever breathed.
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel
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Ruffian suffered a compound fracture of both sesamoid bones in her right front ankle and a dislocated fetlock joint.
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In another place, he says, "some transformed themselves to rogues, others to ruffians, some others to Clownes, a fourth to fools; the rogues were ready, the ruffians were rude, theyr Clownes cladde as well with country condition, as in ruffe russet; theyr fooles as fond as might be.
A History of Pantomime
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The ruffians wore goatskin hats, gritty cloaks, and leggings of leather.
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This first feature filmed in Irish follows the tale of an aging producer of poitin (the Irish equivalent of moonshine) and the two young ruffians who rob him.
