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Webster 1913 Edition

Tuft

Tuft

,
Noun.
[Prov. E.
tuff
, F.
touffe
; of German origin; cf. G.
zopf
a weft of hair, pigtail, top of a tree. See
Top
summit.]
1.
A collection of small, flexible, or soft things in a knot or bunch; a waving or bending and spreading cluster;
as, a
tuft
of flowers or feathers
.
2.
A cluster; a clump;
as, a
tuft
of plants
.
Under a
tuft
of shade.
Milton.
Green lake, and cedar
fuft
, and spicy glade.
Keble.
3.
A nobleman, or person of quality, especially in the English universities; – so called from the tuft, or gold tassel, on the cap worn by them.
[Cant, Eng.]
Several young
tufts
, and others of the faster men.
T. Hughes.

Tuft

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Tufted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Tufting
.]
1.
To separate into tufts.
2.
To adorn with tufts or with a tuft.
Thomson.

Tuft

,
Verb.
I.
To grow in, or form, a tuft or tufts.

Webster 1828 Edition

Tuft

TUFT

, n.
1.
A collection of small things in a knot or bunch; as a tuft of flowers; a tuft of feathers; a tuft of grass or hair. A tuft of feathers forms the crest of a bird..
2.
A cluster, a clump; as a tuft of trees; a tuft of olives.
3.
In botany, a head of flowers, each elevated on a partial stalk, and all forming together a dense roundish mass. The word is sometimes applied to other collections, as little bundles of leaves, hairs and the like.

TUFT

,
Verb.
T.
To separate into tufts.
1.
To adorn with tufts or with a tuft.

Definition 2024

tuft

tuft

English

Noun

tuft ‎(plural tufts)

  1. A bunch of feathers, grass or hair, etc., held together at the base.
  2. A cluster of threads drawn tightly through upholstery, a mattress or a quilt, etc., to secure and strengthen the padding.
  3. A small clump of trees or bushes.
  4. (historical) A gold tassel on the cap worn by titled undergraduates at English universities.
  5. (historical) A person entitled to wear such a tassel.
    • T. Hughes
      Several young tufts, and others of the faster men.

Translations

Derived terms

Verb

tuft ‎(third-person singular simple present tufts, present participle tufting, simple past and past participle tufted)

  1. (transitive) To provide or decorate with a tuft or tufts.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Thomson to this entry?)
  2. (transitive) To form into tufts.
  3. (transitive) To secure and strengthen (a mattress, quilt, etc.) with tufts.
  4. (intransitive) To be formed into tufts.

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English tuft, toft, tofte, an alteration of earlier *tuffe (> Modern English tuff), from Old French touffe, tuffe, toffe, tofe ‎(“tuft”) (modern French touffe), from Late Latin (near Vegezio) tufa ‎(“helmet crest”), from Germanic (compare Old English þūf ‎(“tuft”), Old Norse þúfa ‎(“mound”), Swedish tuva ‎(“tussock; grassy hillock”)), from Proto-Germanic *þūbǭ, *þūbaz; akin to Latin tūber ‎(“hump, swelling”), Ancient Greek τῡ́φη ‎(tū́phē, “cattail (used to stuff beds)”). Same as tuff.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tʌft/
  • Rhymes: -ʌft

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