different between ringlet vs quiff

English

Etymology

From ring +? -let. Compare Middle English ryngyl, ryngyll, rengel (“ringlet”).

Noun

ringlet (plural ringlets)

1. A small ring.
2. A lock, tress.

   Her hair was in ringlets.

   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23

     She was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich red in color and fell in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her dress was pure white but her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly upon the little girl.

3. (entomology) Any of various butterflies with small rings on the wings, in the tribe Satyrini of the family Nymphalidae, such as Aphantopus hyperantus.

Translations

Verb

ringlet (third-person singular simple present ringlets, present participle ringleting, simple past and past participle ringleted)

1. (transitive) To form into ringlets.
   • 1877, Ella Farman, Good-for-nothing Polly (page 163)

     "It's very becoming!" said Pollie coaxingly, taking his curly head, which she had been brushing and ringleting for the last half hour, all damp, into her arms.

2. (transitive) To surround or encircle like a ringlet.
   • 1980, Stephen King, The Mist

     I think now that if it had gripped me with those suckers, I would have gone out into the mist too. But it didn't. It grabbed Norm. And the third tentacle ringleted his other ankle. Now he was being pulled away from me.

Anagrams

• Giltner, Tingler, tingler, tringle

German

Pronunciation

Verb

ringlet

1. second-person plural subjunctive I of ringeln

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /kw?f/, [k?w??f]
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

Variant form of whiff.

Noun

quiff (plural quiffs)

1. (British dialect) A puff or whiff, especially of tobacco smoke.

Etymology 2

Origin unknown.

Noun

quiff (plural quiffs)

1. (regional, slang) A trick or ploy; a stratagem. [from 19th c.]
   • 1933, John Masefield, The Bird of Dawning:

     It was young Mr. Abbott worked that quiff on you, sir.

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain; perhaps a variant of coif.

Noun

quiff (plural quiffs)

1. (Britain) A hairstyle whereby the forelock is brushed and/or gelled upward, often associated with the styles of the 1950s. [from 19th c.]
   • 2012, Tom Lamont, The Observer, 2 Sep 2012:

     His woolly brown hair shaped into a drooping quiff, he's been sitting poolside all morning, snatching sucks on cigarettes before the waiters can tell him no, and thinking about reworking some incidental music for the band's gig tomorrow.

Translations

Verb

quiff (third-person singular simple present quiffs, present participle quiffing, simple past and past participle quiffed)

1. (Britain) To arrange (the hair) in such a manner. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

• quiffed

Etymology 4

Probably variant of coif (“vulva”).

Noun

quiff (plural quiffs)

1. (slang) A young girl, especially as promiscuous; a prostitute. [from 20th c.]
   • 1949, John O'Hara, Rage to Live:

     How would I get an African toothache when the closest I been to a quiff in over a month is sitting next to one?

2. (slang) The vulva or vagina. [from 20th c.]
   • 2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate 2011, p. 120:

     Jane was drying herself in the bedroom, holding the bath towel behind her shoulders, her small breasts and childlike nipples flushed from the power jet, her quiff a barely visible thread.