ruffle
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹʌfəl/
rhymes: -ʌfəl
Forms: form: ruffles
form: ruffling
form: ruffled
form: ruffled
Etymology: From Middle English ruffelen, perhaps from Old Norse hrufla (“to graze, scratch”) or Middle Low German ruffelen (“to wrinkle, curl”). Further origin unknown. Related to Middle Dutch ruyffelen, German Low German ruffeln. See English ruff.
Senses: examples: text: Ruffle the end of the cuff.
glosses: To make a ruffle in; to curl or flute, as an edge of fabric.
examples: text: The wind ruffled the papers.
text: Her sudden volley of insults ruffled his composure.
text: She […]smoothed the ruffled seas.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “Palamon and Arcite”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: the fantastic revelries […] that so often ruffled the placid bosom of the Nile
ref: 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
text: But, ever after, the small violence done / Rankled in him and ruffled all his heart, / As the sharp wind that ruffles all day long / A little bitter pool about a stone / On the bare coast.
ref: 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Guinevere”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 227–228:
text: These ruffle the tranquillity of the mind.
ref: 1860, Sir William Hamilton, Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet:
text: "Ladies and gentlemen," said Mr. Wonka, coming up close and raising both hands for silence. "Please, I beg you, do not ruffle yourselves! There's nothing to worry about."
ref: 1972, Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Knopf, page 114:
text: [Finn] Russell created his side’s three first-half tries, ruffling a defence known for its composure, and dictated the match from the off.
ref: 2018 February 24, Paul Rees, “Finn Russell masterminds historic Scotland victory over England”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2018:
synonyms: word: perturb
word: trouble
word: unsettle
word: agitate
word: freak
word: bother
word: bring down
word: discompose
word: disconcert
word: enturbulate
word: disturb
word: mortify
word: perturb
word: put out
word: ruffle
word: throw off balance
word: unsettle
word: upset
glosses: To disturb; especially, to cause to flutter.
examples: text: The night comes on, and the bleak winds / Do sorely ruffle.
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
glosses: To grow rough, boisterous, or turbulent.
examples: text: On his right shoulder his thick mane ', / Ruffles at speed, and dances in the wind.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To become disordered; to play loosely; to flutter.
examples: text: They would ruffle with jurors.
ref: 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:
text: gallants who ruffled in silk and embroidery
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:
text: He was engaged in finding the steward, and in aiding him to cloak his mistress; then with a ruffling air, a new acquirement, which he had picked up since he came to Paris, he made a way for her through the crowd.
ref: 1901, Stanley J. Weyman, chapter I, in Count Hannibal:
glosses: To be rough; to jar; to be in contention; hence, to put on airs; to swagger.
glosses: To make into a ruff; to draw or contract into puckers, plaits, or folds; to wrinkle.
examples: text: [T]he barge with oar and sail / Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan / That, fluting a wild carol ere her death, / Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood / With swarthy webs.
ref: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Morte d’Arthur”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 16:
glosses: To erect in a ruff, as feathers.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.
examples: text: Within a thicket I reposed; when round / I ruffled up fall'n leaves in heap; and found, / Let fall from heaven, a sleep interminate.
ref: 1614–1615, Homer, “The Seventh Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 165, lines 395–397:
glosses: To throw together in a disorderly manner.
Derived terms: ruffle a few feathers
ruffle any feathers
ruffle feathers
rufflement
ruffler
ruffle some feathers
ruffle someone's feathers
ruffle up
ruffly
unruffled