Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Ruffle \Ruf"fle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ruffled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Ruffling}.] [From {Ruff} a plaited collar, a drum beat, a
tumult: cf. OD. ruyffelen to wrinkle.]
1. To make into a ruff; to draw or contract into puckers,
plaits, or folds; to wrinkle.
2. To furnish with ruffles; as, to ruffle a shirt.
3. To oughen or disturb the surface of; to make uneven by
agitation or commotion.
The fantastic revelries . . . that so often ruffled
the placid bosom of the Nile. --I. Taylor.
She smoothed the ruffled seas. --Dryden.
4. To erect in a ruff, as feathers.
[the swan] ruffles her pure cold plume. --Tennyson.
5. (Mil.) To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.
6. To discompose; to agitate; to disturb.
These ruffle the tranquillity of the mind. --Sir W.
Hamilton.
But, ever after, the small violence done Rankled in
him and ruffled all his heart. --Tennyson.
7. To throw into disorder or confusion.
Where best He might the ruffled foe infest.
--Hudibras.
8. To throw together in a disorderly manner. [R.]
I ruffled up falen leaves in heap. --Chapman
{To ruffle the feathers of}, to exite the resentment of; to
irritate.
Source : WordNet®
ruffled
adj 1: shaken into waves or undulations as by wind; "the rippled
surface of the pond"; "with ruffled flags flying"
[syn: {rippled}]
2: having decorative ruffles or frills [syn: {frilled}, {frilly}]