Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Tuft \Tuft\, n. [Prov. E. tuff, F. touffe; of German origin; cf.
   G. zopf a weft of hair, pigtail, top of a tree. See {Top}
   summit.]
   1. A collection of small, flexible, or soft things in a knot
      or bunch; a waving or bending and spreading cluster; as, a
      tuft of flowers or feathers.

   2. A cluster; a clump; as, a tuft of plants.

            Under a tuft of shade.                --Milton.

            Green lake, and cedar fuft, and spicy glade.
                                                  --Keble.

   3. A nobleman, or person of quality, especially in the
      English universities; -- so called from the tuft, or gold
      tassel, on the cap worn by them. [Cant, Eng.]

            Several young tufts, and others of the faster men.
                                                  --T. Hughes.

Tuft \Tuft\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Tufted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Tufting}.]
   1. To separate into tufts.

   2. To adorn with tufts or with a tuft. --Thomson.

Tuft \Tuft\, v. i.
   To grow in, or form, a tuft or tufts.

Source : WordNet®

tuft
     n 1: a bunch of hair or feathers or growing grass [syn: {tussock}]
     2: a bunch of feathers or hair