bluff

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bluff1

▶noun an attempt to deceive someone into believing that one can or will do something. ▶verb try to deceive someone as to one's abilities or intentions.

– phrases
call someone's bluff

• 1 challenge someone to carry out a stated intention, in the expectation of being able to expose it as a pretence.

• 2 (in poker or brag) make an opponent show their hand in order to reveal that its value is weaker than their heavy betting suggests.

– derivatives
bluffer noun.

– origin C17 (in the sense ‘blindfold, hoodwink’): from Du. bluffen ‘brag’, or bluf ‘bragging’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bluff2

▶adjective good-naturedly frank and direct.

– derivatives
bluffly adverb,
bluffness noun.

– origin C18 (in the sense ‘surly’): figurative use of bluff3.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bluff3

▶noun

• 1 a steep cliff, bank, or promontory.

• 2 Canadian a grove or clump of trees.

▶adjective (of a cliff or a ship's bows) having a vertical or steep broad front.

– origin C17 (in naut. use): of unknown origin.