From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishriffriff1 /rɪf/ noun [countable] 1 APMa repeated series of notes in popular or jazz music a guitar riff2 a piece of speech in which someone talks about a subject in an entertaining way that does not seem planned He goes off on a riff about the problems of being middle-aged.
Examples from the Corpus
riff• He rode to fame on the mambo and cha-cha craze of the Eisenhower years, dazzling audiences with his frenetic riffs.• Berry's guitar riffs inspired several generations of bands.• M., and opens with a lot of squiggly guitar riffs as the full-motion video kicks in.• The next example is the catchy syncopated intro riff taken from the single Teaser.• No hooks, no memorable riffs.• When our buckets are full, we top the tour with a skidding riff of singing sand.• The serious climbers would not be seen dead with such riff raff.• Blackbirds trade riffs with each other through the trees.riffriff2 verb [intransitive] 1 to play different notes related to the main tune in popular or jazz music He was riffing on his guitar.2 to talk about a subject in an entertaining way that does not seem planned During her show, she riffs about everything from her family to global warming.Origin riff (1900-2000) Probably from → REFRAIN2 