Definition of "scruff" [scruff]

• The back of the neck; the nape. (noun)

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.

• "Â At times her shading makes it look like Mercer has a bit of chin scruff in one panel, and then looks clean shaven in the other."
• "And then sticking a card between my stock and my coat-collar, in what is called the scruff of my neck, the disgusting brute gave me another blow behind my back, and left the coffee-room with his friends."
• "I wanted very much to remove him from that car by what Lute would call the scruff of the neck."