the.com/ruffle
Fabric's way of throwing a tiny tantrum and somehow looking gorgeous doing it.
means To disturb the smoothness of something — feathers, fabric, water, or someone's composure — by gathering, rumpling, or agitating it, or the gathered strip of fabric that results.
from From late Middle English ruffelen, 'to disturb or ruffle,' likely from a Low German or Dutch source — compare Low German ruffelen, 'to crumple' — and probably echoing the same rough cluster of words as 'rough' and 'rumple.' The sense is wonderfully imitative: the very sound of the word suggests something being scuffed out of its smoothness, whether feathers, water, or temper. The frilly sewing sense came later, born from that same idea of fabric disturbed into pleats.
- royal armor
- Elaborate ruffs once signaled wealth and idle hands
- starch wars
- Stiff collars needed starch, wires, and infinite patience
- verb sneaks in
- To ruffle also means to disturb composure
- poker tells
- Card shuffling borrows the same fanning flutter
ruffles potato chips — american snack brand founded by frito-lay in 1958, known for ridged potato chips
ruffed grouse — north american game bird (bonasa umbellus) with distinctive neck feathers that fan when displaying
elizabethan ruff collar — stiffened pleated neckwear worn in 16th-17th century europe, especially by queen elizabeth i