Other forms: ruffled, ruffles, ruffling
A ruffle is a wavy band of gathered cloth along an edge. A ruffle at the collar, ruffles down the front, a ruffled hem.
The gathering is what makes it wave, and a ruffle is fuller than a frill though the two words are used loosely. As a verb, to ruffle is to disturb a smooth surface — the wind ruffles the water, somebody ruffles your hair. Figuratively it means to unsettle: ruffle a few feathers, and nothing ruffles her. Note unruffled, which is high praise for calm.
1nounruffleA wavy band of gathered cloth along an edge.
“The curtains had a pretty ruffle along the bottom edge.”
2verbdisturbTo disturb a smooth surface, or to unsettle somebody.
“A light breeze ruffled the surface of the lake.”
ruffle is gathered cloth, or a disturbing.
Middle English ruffelen probably came from Old Norse or Low German, meaning to wrinkle or graze. Ruff, the stiff Elizabethan collar, is the same word, which is why both are gathered cloth round a neck.
Middle Low German
ruffelen — to wrinkle, curl
Old Norse
hrufla — to graze, scratch
Middle English
ruffelen
English, today
ruffle
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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Clothes & Fashion, Knitting & Sewing