Wiktionary

tuft

See also: Tuft

English

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Etymology

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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 tufa (“helmet crest”) (near Vegezio). Compare Old English þūf (“tuft”), Old Norse þúfa (“mound”), Swedish tuva (“tussock; grassy hillock”), Swedish tova (“tangled knot”), Swedish tofs (“tuft, tassel”), from Proto-Germanic *þūbǭ (“tube”), *þūbaz; akin to Latin tūber (“hump, swelling”), Ancient Greek τῡ́φη (tū́phē, “cattail (used to stuff beds)”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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.
    • 1755, Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, Volume One, II.4:
      “Not far from this place, there is a tuft of about a dozen of tall beeches […] .”
  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.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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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.
  2. (transitive) To form into tufts.
  3. (transitive) To secure and strengthen (a mattress, quilt, etc.) with tufts. This hinders the stuffing from moving.
    • 2017 December 2, “The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!” (0:13 from the start), in DuckTales, season 1, episode 3:
      They're never gonna get that Ottoman tufted in time!
  4. (intransitive) To be formed into tufts.

Translations

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old Norse tupt, topt, from Proto-Germanic *tumþiz and/or *tumftō. Doublet of tomt. Compare Faroese toft and Icelandic tóft.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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tuft f (definite singular tufta, indefinite plural tufter, definite plural tuftene)

  1. homestead, ground where a house stands
    … der han sjølv heve Tufterna gravet
    og set sjølv sine Hus uppaa deim.
    … where he has dug the grounds
    and sets his houses on them.
  2. an earth floor
  3. a plot (of land), site, (building) lot

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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References

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  • “tuft” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
  • “tuft” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring
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