ripple
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From an alteration of rimple.
NounEdit
ripple (plural ripples)
- A moving disturbance, or undulation, in the surface of a fluid.
- I dropped a small stone into the pond and watched the ripples spread.
- The ebbing tide had left ripples in the sand.
- A sound similar to that of undulating water.
- A style of ice cream in which flavors have been coarsely blended together.
- I enjoy fudge ripple ice cream, but I especially like to dig through the carton to get at the ripple part and eat only that.
- (electronics) A small oscillation of an otherwise steady signal.
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
ripple (third-person singular simple present ripples, present participle rippling, simple past and past participle rippled)
- (intransitive) To move like the undulating surface of a body of water; to undulate.
- (intransitive) To propagate like a moving wave.
- 2008, Bradley Simpson, Economists with Guns, page 65:
- These problems were complicated by a foreign exchange crunch which rippled through the economy in 1961-1962, […]
- (intransitive) To make a sound as of water running gently over a rough bottom, or the breaking of ripples on the shore.
- (transitive) To shape into a series of ripples.
- (transitive) To launch or unleash in rapid succession.
- 2019, Jason M. Hardy, Phaedra M. Weldon, Herbert A. Beas II, BattleTech: Weapons Free: BattleCorps Anthology, Volume 3
- Hearns' 'Mech rippled fifteen missiles. Austen watched the missiles go in. They smashed into a copse of trees, smashing the trunks aside.
- 2019, Jason M. Hardy, Phaedra M. Weldon, Herbert A. Beas II, BattleTech: Weapons Free: BattleCorps Anthology, Volume 3
TranslationsEdit
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Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English *ripelen, repulen, equivalent to rip + -le (frequentative suffix).
VerbEdit
ripple (third-person singular simple present ripples, present participle rippling, simple past and past participle rippled)
- (transitive) To scratch, tear, or break slightly; graze
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)
Etymology 3Edit
Compare Low German Repel, Dutch repel, German Riffel, extended forms (with instrumental or diminutive -le) of Low German Repe (“ripple”), Dutch repe (“ripple”). Compare also Dutch repen, German reffen, Swedish repa (“to beat; ripple”).
The verb is from Middle English ripplen, rypelen. Compare Low German repelen, Dutch repelen, German riffeln.
Alternative formsEdit
NounEdit
ripple (plural ripples)
- An implement, with teeth like those of a comb, for removing the seeds and seed vessels from flax, broom corn, etc.
TranslationsEdit
VerbEdit
ripple (third-person singular simple present ripples, present participle rippling, simple past and past participle rippled)
- To remove the seeds from (the stalks of flax, etc.), by means of a ripple.