different between tousle vs ruffle

English

Alternative forms

• touzle, toozle, tussle

Etymology

From Middle English touselen, equivalent to touse +? -le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ta?.z?l/
  • (US, also) IPA^(key): /?ta?.s?l/
• Rhymes: -a?z?l

Verb

tousle (third-person singular simple present tousles, present participle tousling, simple past and past participle tousled)

1. To put into disorder; to tumble; to touse; to muss.

Noun

tousle (plural tousles)

1. The action of ruffling or setting in disorder.
   • 2015, Carla Cassidy, A Real Cowboy (page 264)

     Cassie reached over and gave Sammy's dark hair a tousle.

Anagrams

• lutose, solute, tousel

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???f?l/
• Rhymes: -?f?l

Noun

ruffle (plural ruffles)

1. Any gathered or curled strip of fabric added as trim or decoration.
2. Disturbance; agitation; commotion.

3. (military) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, quieter than a roll; a ruff.
4. (zoology) The connected series of large egg capsules, or oothecae, of several species of American marine gastropods of the genus Fulgur.

Synonyms

• (strip of fabric): frill, furbelow

Translations

Verb

ruffle (third-person singular simple present ruffles, present participle ruffling, simple past and past participle ruffled)

1. (transitive) To make a ruffle in; to curl or flute, as an edge of fabric.

2. (transitive) To disturb; especially, to cause to flutter.
   • 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening

     the fantastic revelries […] that so often ruffled the placid bosom of the Nile

   • 1860, Sir William Hamilton, Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet

     These ruffle the tranquillity of the mind.

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, Guinevere
3. (intransitive) To grow rough, boisterous, or turbulent.
4. (intransitive) To become disordered; to play loosely; to flutter.
5. (intransitive) To be rough; to jar; to be in contention; hence, to put on airs; to swagger.
6. To make into a ruff; to draw or contract into puckers, plaits, or folds; to wrinkle.
7. To erect in a ruff, as feathers.
   • 1832, Alfred Tennyson, The Palace of Art
8. (military) To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.
9. To throw together in a disorderly manner.

Translations

Derived terms

• rufflement
• ruffler
• ruffle some feathers
• ruffle up
• ruffly
• unruffled

References

Anagrams

• Fulfer, luffer