transitive verb ruffled, ruffling
- to take away the smoothness of; wrinkle; ripple: wind ruffling the water
- to gather into ruffles
- to put ruffles on as trimming
- to make (feathers, etc.) stand up in or as in a ruff, as a bird when frightened
- to disturb, irritate, or annoy
- to turn over (the pages of a book, etc.) rapidly
Origin:
ME ruffelen < ON or MLowG, as in LowG, ON hrufla, to scratch