Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A machine for making ruffles, sometimes forming an attachment to a sewing-machine.
  • noun A bully; a swaggerer; a ruffian; a violent and lawless person.
  • noun Specifically A bullying thief or beggar; a blustering vagabond.
  • noun Same as ruffer.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who ruffles; a swaggerer; a bully; a ruffian.
  • noun That which ruffles; specifically, a sewing machine attachment for making ruffles.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical ruffian, bully, villain; especially a 16th-17th century vagabond operating under the guise of a maimed soldier or sailor
  • noun braggart, swaggerer
  • noun a sewing machine attachment for making ruffles

Etymologies

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Examples

  • After the first hackle, called a ruffler, six other finer hackles were often used.

    Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881

  • He has become a loud and frequent critic of the government, calling himself on his twitter account a "certified ruffler of feathers."

    Outspoken Former Nigerian Minister Detained 2011

  • He has become a loud and frequent critic of the government, calling himself on his twitter account a "certified ruffler of feathers."

    Outspoken Former Nigerian Minister Detained 2011

  • You can get a ruffler quite inexpensively if you watch the sales at the fabric store and use your half price or 40% off coupon.

    Alfred Augustus Glendening 1861-1903 2009

  • He has become a loud and frequent critic of the government, calling himself on his twitter account a "certified ruffler of feathers."

    Outspoken Former Nigerian Minister Detained 2011

  • He has become a loud and frequent critic of the government, calling himself on his twitter account a "certified ruffler of feathers."

    Outspoken Former Nigerian Minister Detained 2011

  • The title of the book gave me the willies--I could only think of my moms 1947 Singer with the giy-normous buttonhole attachment and how many frustrating hours she spent trying to get it to work, not to mention the ruffler .

    Toys! Wonderful toys! - A Dress A Day 2010

  • They were full of admiration for my get-up - which was my usual one of bazaar-ruffler - and Kavanaugh came up to me with absolute tears in his eyes and said I was the stoutest chap alive to stand by him in this.

    Fiancée 2010

  • The title of the book gave me the willies--I could only think of my moms 1947 Singer with the giy-normous buttonhole attachment and how many frustrating hours she spent trying to get it to work, not to mention the ruffler .

    Toys! Wonderful toys! - A Dress A Day 2010

  • NOTE - if you have a ruffler foot, which are seriously the best thing since sliced bread - and i love sliced bread, since i'm horrific at cutting it myself!

    Archive 2009-05-01 amy 2009

Comments

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  • See citation on pailliard.

    September 6, 2008

  • "rufflers - The first rank of canters; also notorious rogues pretending to be maimed soldiers or sailors."

    - Francis Grose, 'The Vulgar Tongue'.

    September 6, 2008