toruffle

verb

toruffle

verb

/təˈɹʌfəl/

Etymology From to- + ruffle.

1

Archaic 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:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.