ruffle
1. (Science: cell biology) projections at the leading edge of a crawling cell. In time lapse films the active edge appears to ruffle.
The protrusions are apparently supported by a microfilament meshwork and can move centripetally over the dorsal surface of a cell in culture.
2. (Science: zoology) The connected series of large egg capsules, or oothecae, of any one of several species of American marine gastropods of the genus Fulgur. See ootheca. Ruffle of a boot, the top turned down, and scalloped or plaited.
3. To make into a ruff; to draw or contract into puckers, plaits, or folds; to wrinkle. That which is ruffled; specifically, a strip of lace, cambric, or other fine cloth, plaited or gathered on one edge or in the middle, and used as a trimming; a frill.
4. A state of being ruffled or disturbed; disturbance; agitation; commotion; as, to put the mind in a ruffle.
5. To oughen or disturb the surface of; to make uneven by agitation or commotion. The fantastic revelries . . . That so often ruffled the placid bosom of the nile. (I. Taylor) She smoothed the ruffled seas. (Dryden)
Origin: From Ruff a plaited collar, a drum beat, a tumult: cf. OD. Ruyffelen to wrinkle.
Dictionary > Ruffle
You will also like...
Inheritance and Probability
Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, is most famous in this field for his study of the phenotype of pea plants, including ..
Darwin and Natural Selection
This tutorial investigates the genetic diversity in more detail. It also delineates how certain alleles are favored over..
Principles of Hormonal Control Systems
Hormones are essential in the regulation of the activity of the various biological systems of the human body. The ineffi..
Genetic Control – On and Off Genes
Genes are the blueprint of our bodies, a blueprint that creates a variety of proteins essential to any organism's surviv..
Adaptation Tutorial
Adaptation, in biology and ecology, refers to the process or trait through which organisms or the populations in a habit..
Respiration
The human respiratory system is an efficient system of inspiring and expiring respiratory gases. This tutorial provides ..