toruffle en · VERB
Pronunciation
- /təˈɹʌfəl/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From to- + ruffle.
Meanings
-
(archaic, transitive) To ruffle excessively, to the degree of causing something to lose its proper form or shape; ruffle up.
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings / That in the various bustle of resort / Were all toruffl'd, and sometimes impair'd.
1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| toruffling | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| toruffles | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| toruffled | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| toruffled | Tense=Past | lexicographic |