What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Ruffle vs Wuffle - What's the difference?

ruffle | wuffle |

As verbs the difference between ruffle and wuffle

is that ruffle is while wuffle is to sniff or snort gently.

As a noun wuffle is

a gentle sniff or snort.

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

    wuffle

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A gentle sniff or snort
  • * 1992 , , Kentucky Dreamer , Bethany House Publishers (1992), ISBN 1556612346, page 37:
    • Gray Dan'l begged for more—both carrots and loving. Even Gatesby acted glad to see her, a wuffle warming her fingers as he picked up his carrot.
  • * 1996 , Alison Kent, Call Me , Harlequin Books (1996), ISBN 9780373256945, page 157:
    • Harley smiled at the dog's contented wuffle and sigh. "How long until Guin is up and around?"
  • * 2003 , , Conqueror , Baen Books (2003), ISBN 074343594X, page 58:
    • "Ah, general," Bellamy said. Raj leaned back in the saddle and Horace halted with a resentful wuffle .
  • * 2005 , Barbara Cleverly, The Damascened Blade , Delta (2005), ISBN 9780385339506, page 77:
    • Candles flickered under the doors of the first two rooms, occupied by Zeman and Iskander. The next room was in darkness and silent apart from a stricken wuffle .
  • * 2009 , Anne Louise MacDonald, Seeing Red , Kids Can Press (2009), ISBN 1554532914, page 181:
    • At the word "treats," Jelly Bean jerked up her head and a sub-woofer wuffle fluttered her nostrils.

    Verb

    (wuffl)
  • To sniff or snort gently
  • * 1942 , "", The Litte Grey Men , Eyre & Spottiswoode (1942):
    • The black muzzle went 'wuffle', ' wuffle' over the sand and the man saw the short hairs bristle along its spine. Then the dog was called off and Giant Grum went up the bank.
  • * 1995 , , Seasons of Plenty , HarperCollins (1995), ISBN 0380774682, page 247:
    • After their first upset the children's dog kept a dignified distance from him; and when in the narrow passages the cat strayed too close, he would wuffle irritably, like an old Scotsman clearing his throat.
  • * 2001 , , The Great War: Breakthroughs , Del Ray (2001), ISBN 0345405641, page 138:
    • "Ma'am, we are doing what we can," Barksdale repeated stolidly. He took a deep breath, then let it wuffle out through his thick gray mustache.
  • * 2004 , Wendy Jane Evans, The Diggings Are Silent , Interactive Press (2004), ISBN 1876819243, page 77:
    • Beyond was a tangle of undergrowth fringing a pocket of rainforest. It seemed a place where a dog could wuffle to his heart's content.
  • * 2009 , Christopher J. Wortham, Fragments… From Two Lives on Three Continents , Eloquent Books (2009), ISBN 1606933302, page 18:
    • I could stand with my hands resting on the upper rail of the playpen and reach out to touch Rufus, the red setter, whose principal concern was evidently to entertain me. He would wuffle and snuggle from just outside, wagging his feathery tail in appreciation of his tiny young friend's attentions.