Meanings
verbtoruffle (third-person singular simple present toruffles, present participle toruffling, simple past and past participle toruffled)
present singular third person toruffles · participle present toruffling · participle past toruffled · past toruffled
- archaictransitiveTo 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.
Comus
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
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Origin
Cite this entry
APA
toruffle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toruffle
MLA
“toruffle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toruffle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toruffle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toruffle.
Source: toruffle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.