Meanings
plural rufflers
- historicalA ruffian, bully, or villain, especially a 16th-17th-century vagabond operating under the guise of a maimed soldier or sailor.
1840-1841, Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock […] and then how he grasped his club and longed to do battle with a dozen rufflers, for the love of Mistress Alice!
1 more example
The ruffler in leather, who lately went fighting through the door, has returned, presumably by means of another entrance.
1978, Michael Moorcock, chapter 1, in Gloriana; or, The Unfulfill'd Queen - A sewing machine attachment for making ruffles.
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ruffler
All rhymes →Cite this entry
ruffler. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruffler
“ruffler.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruffler. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ruffler,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruffler.
Source: ruffler on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.