Definition of "crossruff" []

• A series of plays in games of the whist family in which partnership hands alternately trump suits led by the other partner. (noun)
• To perform a crossruff or a series of crossruffs. (verb-intransitive)
• To trump (one's partner's lead or a lead from the dummy) in alternating plays. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At today's slam South opted to try for a crossruff."
• "He can cash the top diamonds and clubs and start a crossruff."
• "So guilt would have been irrational as I enjoyed the chef's artful crossruff of textures -- the chewy puffin playing against the more brittle sunchoke and hazelnuts, with an overall sea-saltiness prevailing amid the Gallic refinement of the sauce."