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To fold; to double in narrow folds; to pleat; as, to plait a ruffle.

A small stick or rod of steel, formerly used in adjusting the plaits of ruffs. Shak.

A fish; the ruff. Pope Joan, a game at cards played on a round board with compartments. -- Pope's eye, the gland surrounded with fat in the middle of the thigh of an ox or sheep. R. D. Blackmore. -- Pope's nose, the rump, or uropygium, of a bird. See Uropygium.

To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate; to ruffle with puffs; -- often with up; as a bladder puffed with air. The sea puffed up with winds. Shak.

A ruff for the neck. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Not ruffed with passion; unagitated; not in action; not excited; quiet; dormant; resting. In times of national security, the feeling of patriotism . . . is so quiescent that it seems hardly to exist. Prof. Wilson.

The fold or plain of a ruff.

A kind of ruff for the neck; a turned-down collar; a rebato. [Obs.] Shak.

A pinnate-leaved palm (Raphia ruffia) native of Madagascar, and of considerable economic importance on account of the strong fiber (raffia) obtained from its leafstalks.

The female of the ruff.

l . . . It is not to be wondered at that the word rapidly became a synonym for everything ruffianly and brutal. Earle.

To disturb, as the temper; to ruffle the temper of; to rouse the passion of resentment in; to perplex. That his friends should believe it, was what roiled him [Judge Jeffreys] exceedingly. R. North.

One who engages in rows, or noisy quarrels; a ruffianly fellow. M. Arnold.

laugh against her will. Sir H. Wotton. The scornful, ferocious, sardonic grin of a bloody ruffian. Burke. Sardonic grin or laugh, an old medical term for a spasmodic affection of the muscles of the face, giving it an appearance of laughter.

The back part of the neck; the scruff. [Prov. Eng.] Ld. Lytton.

body; especially, thin scales exfoliated from the cuticle, particularly of the scalp; dandruff.

Same as Crossruff.

Calm; placid; undisturbed; unruffled; as, a serene aspect; a serene soul. Milton.

With unruffled temper; coolly; calmly. Prior.

Speaking in a quick or short manner; hence, gruff; curt. [Colloq.]