Definition of "riff"

Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has been named the greatest guitar riff of all time, 41 years after it was recorded, in a poll by website Music Radar.

2009 November 27, “Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff'”, in BBC‎

Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life

2015 September 27, “Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life”, in USA Today‎

Both the Orbit and the Pinnacle are riffs on an idea sketched out in 1917 by Vladimir Tatlin for a monument to international communism.

2012, The Economist, London Skyline: Tower Power‎

The creative team has experience with spoofing: Both [Paul] Rudd and [Amy] Poehler had parts in [David] Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer, a hysterically irreverent riff on ’80s summer-camp comedies.

2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 7 December 2017

She riffed on the Olympic judges, the bobsled team, then ad-libbed with a woman drinking a martini at the front table.

2006, Janet Tashjian, Fault Line: A Novel

They were great architects deeply enmeshed in an urban chain of innovation; Wright riffed on Sullivan's idea of form following function, and Sullivan riffed on Jenney, and Jenney relied on the fireproofing innovations of Peter B. Wight.

2011, Edward Glaeser, Triumph of the City

For Holyoake a strategic advantage of his newly coined label was the way it riffed on the term 'secular' in the Western Christian imaginary.

2014, Johann P. Arnason, Religion and Politics: European and Global Perspectives, page 59

He riffed an upward arpeggio and in a smooth, slightly neutered baritone began singing “Baby Face.”

2014, Edward Stewart, Privileged Lives

In particular, Ralph Breaks The Internet riffs a lot on its enormous parent company, from that princess bit to the Sterling Holloway tone that new good-luck charm Alan Tudyk brings to his vocal performance to a goof on the de facto parenting advice that’s at the heart of so many Pixar movies.

2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 21 November 2019

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a wellworn deck of cards. He hated Saturday duty. He cut the deck and riffed the two halves together.

2010, Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind

He was gracious enough to thank her, and briefly riffed through the pages before putting it in his briefcase.

2012, Jane Roberts, Triple Challenge: '69 to '70, page 173

The man reached inside a pocket of the black broadcloth coat he'd draped over the back of his chair and withdrew a deck of cards, which he fanned in one hand, then bent back and riffed rapidly into the palm of his other.

2014, Miles Swarthout, The Last Shootist