Ruffle vs Scratch - What's the difference?

As verbs the difference between ruffle and scratch

is that ruffle is while scratch is to rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.

As a noun scratch is

(lb) a disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.

As an adjective scratch is

for or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc work.

ruffle

English

Noun

(en noun)

Any gathered or curled strip of fabric added as trim or decoration.^(w)

''She loved the dress with the lace ruffle at the hem.

Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles , flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

Disturbance; agitation; commotion.

to put the mind in a ruffle

(military) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, quieter than a roll; a ruff.

(zoology) The connected series of large egg capsules, or oothecae, of several species of American marine gastropods of the genus Fulgur .

Synonyms

* (strip of fabric) frill, furbelow

Verb

(ruffl)

To make a ruffle in; to curl or flute, as an edge of fabric.

Ruffle the end of the cuff.

To disturb; especially, to cause to flutter.

The wind ruffled the papers.

Her sudden volley of insults ruffled his composure.

* I. Taylor

the fantastic revelries that so often ruffled the placid bosom of the Nile

* Sir W. Hamilton

These ruffle the tranquillity of the mind.

* Dryden

She smoothed the ruffled seas.

* Tennyson

But, ever after, the small violence done / Rankled in him and ruffled all his heart.

To grow rough, boisterous, or turbulent.

* Shakespeare

The night comes on, and the bleak winds / Do sorely ruffle .

To become disordered; to play loosely; to flutter.

* Dryden

On his right shoulder his thick mane reclined, / Ruffles at speed, and dances in the wind.

To be rough; to jar; to be in contention; hence, to put on airs; to swagger.

* Francis Bacon

They would ruffle with jurors.

* Sir Walter Scott

gallants who ruffled in silk and embroidery

To make into a ruff; to draw or contract into puckers, plaits, or folds; to wrinkle.

To erect in a ruff, as feathers.

* Tennyson

[The swan] ruffles her pure cold plume.

(military) To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.

To throw together in a disorderly manner.

* Chapman

I ruffled up fallen leaves in heap.

Derived terms

* ruffly

scratch

English

(wikipedia scratch)

Verb

(es)

To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.

Could you please scratch my back?

* Jonathan Swift

Be mindful, when invention fails, / To scratch your head, and bite your nails.

To rub the skin with rough material causing a sensation of irritation.

I don't like that new scarf because it scratches my neck.

To mark a surface with a sharp object, thereby leaving a scratch (noun).

A real diamond can easily scratch a pane of glass.

To remove, ignore or delete.

Scratch what I said earlier; I was wrong.

When the favorite was scratched from the race, there was a riot at the betting windows.

(music) To produce a distinctive sound on a turntable by moving a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the crossfader (see also ).

(billiards) To commit a foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.

Embarrassingly, he scratched on the break, popping the cue completely off the table.

(billiards, dated, US) To score, not by skilful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.

To write or draw hastily or awkwardly.

* Jonathan Swift

Scratch out a pamphlet.

To dig or excavate with the claws.

Some animals scratch holes, in which they burrow.

Derived terms

* scratch one's head * scratch the surface * scratcher * scratchpad * scratchy * scratch an itch * Old Scratch

Synonyms

* scrattle

Noun

(es)

(lb) A disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.

*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

*:God forbid a shallow scratch should drive / The prince of Wales from such a field as this.

*(Joseph Moxon) (1627-1691)

*:The coarse filemakes deep scratches in the work.

*1709 , (Matthew Prior), '' Henry and Emma, line 503

*:These nails with scratches deform my breast.

*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away, […].}}

An act of scratching the skin to alleviate an itch or irritation.

(lb)

#A starting line (originally and simply, a line scratched in the ground), as in boxing.

#:(Grose)

#A technical error of touching or surpassing the starting mark prior to the official start signal in the sporting events of long jump, discus, hammer throw, shot put, and similar. Originally the starting mark was a scratch on the ground but is now a board or precisely indicated mark.

#(lb) An aberration.

##A foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.

## A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.

(label) Money.

*2006 , (Clive James), North Face of Soho , Picador 2007, p. 153:

*:He and Bruce cooked up a script together, and Bruce flew home to raise the scratch .

A feed, usually a mixture of a few common grains, given to chickens.

(lb) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy.

*1887 , James Law, The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser

*:These are exemplified in the scurfy, scaly affections which appear in the bend of the knee (mallenders) and hock (sallenders) and on the lower parts of the limbs, by scratches , and by a scaly exfoliation.

A kind of wig covering only a portion of the head.

Derived terms

* from scratch * scratch-built * start from scratch * Old Scratch

Adjective

(-)

For or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc. work.

This is scratch paper, so go ahead and scribble whatever you want on it.

Hastily assembled; put together in a hurry or from disparate elements.

* 1988 , James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom , Oxford 2004, p. 740:

Bluecoats began crossing the James on June 14 and next day two corps approached Petersburg, which was held by Beauregard with a scratch force of 2,500.

(computing, from scratchpad) Relating to a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary use.

Constructed from whatever materials are to hand.

(sports) (of a player) Of a standard high enough to play without a handicap, i.e. to compete without the benefit of a variation in scoring based on ability.

* {{quote-book

, year=1964 , author=Charles Price , title=The American golfer , page=48 , passage=... the shot that does most to make a genuine scratch golfer is the mashie shot up to the pin — not merely up to the green.}}

Made, done, or happening by chance; arranged with little or no preparation; determined by circumstances; haphazard.

a scratch''' team; a '''scratch''' crew for a boat race; a '''scratch shot in billiards

a scratch race: one without restrictions regarding the entry of competitors

Derived terms

* scratch monkey * scratch sheet

References

* * The Jargon File - Scratch