▪ I. rumple, n.1 Sc. (and north.).
(ˈrʌmp(ə)l)
[f. rump n.1 + -le1.]
1. A tail or rump.
| ? a 1500 Rowlis Cursing 117 Sum with rumpillis lyk a skait. 1508 Dunbar Flyting 125 He that dang sanct Augustine with ane rumple, Thy fowll front had. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 148 Thocht I had rycht nocht bot a rok To gar ȝour rumpill reik Behynd. 1721 Kelly Scot. Prov. 365 You ride so near the Rumple, you'll let none get on behind. 1788 Picken Poems 130 He shook his tail, an' rumple blue. a 1878 Ainslie Land of Burns (1892) 310 Your rumples to the sun, Your digits diggin' in the dirt. 1898 Shetland News 30 April (E.D.D.), Black wi' a white bit apo' da rumple. |
| Comb. 1776 D. Herd Collect. Sc. Songs II. 229 She's fa'n o'er the buffet-stool And brake her rumple-bane. 1824 Chambers Traditions of Edinb. (1847) 195 The rumple-knot was a large bunch of ribbons worn at the peak of the waist behind. |
† 2. The Rump Parliament. Obs.—1
| 1725 Ramsay Gentl. Sheph. ii. i, Monk..plaid the Rumple a right slee begunk. |
▪ II. rumple, n.2 Now rare.
(ˈrʌmp(ə)l)
Also 6 Sc. rumpil.
[ad. MDu. (also Du.) rompel or MLG. rumpel(e, derivatives of MDu. rompe, MLG. rumpe (G. dial. rümpf) wrinkle. Cf. rimple n.]
A wrinkle, fold, crease. (See also quot. 1778.)
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxvi. 20 Round abowt him..Hang all in rumpillis to the heill His kethat [? read rechat] for the nanis. 1611 Cotgr., Grippets, the rumples of an ouer-long, or ill-made garment. 1693 Dryden Juvenal (1697) 268 Fair Virginia wou'd..change her Faultless Make For the foul Rumple of her Camel-back. 1701 Farquhar Sir H. Wildair ii. i, How..could you two contrive to make a bed as mine was last night? a wrinkle on one side, and a rumple on t'other. 1778 Exmoor Scolding Gloss. (E.D.S.) 151 Rumple in Devon means..a Thing ruffled and drawn up together. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1863) 183 It..lay flat on the table as if unused to the rumples and creases. |
▪ III. † ˈrumple, n.3 dial. Obs.
(See quot. 1778.)
| 1746 Exmoor Scolding (E.D.S.) 288 Go pey tha Score... There's a Rumple. 1778 Ibid. Gloss., A Rumple, a large Debt contracted by little and little. |
▪ IV. † ˈrumple, n.4 dial. Obs.
(See quot.)
| 1778 Exmoor Scolding Gloss. (E.D.S.) 151 Somerset, 'Twill come to a Rumple, or breaking, at last. |
▪ V. rumple, v.
(ˈrʌmp(ə)l)
[f. rumple n.2, or ad. MDu. rompelen, MLG. rumpelen (G. dial. rümpflen), f. MLG. rumpen (MHG. rümphen, G. rümpfen) to wrinkle, etc. Cf. rimple v.]
1. trans. To wrinkle, crease, draw into wrinkles or small folds, render uneven or irregular.
In early use only in pa. pple. rumpled.
| 1603 Mirr. Worldly Fame in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 521 Thy cheeks and fair forehead shall be full of wrinkles;..thy throat shall be rumpled. 1694 Martens' Voy. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. 63 The Leaves are not quite plain, but some⁓what rumpled at the brims. 1758 Phil. Trans. L. 589 They are wrinkled or rumpled over one another. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 81 Nature employs several species of white..by dotting, rumpling, radiating, varnishing it. 1844 Mrs. Browning Vis. Poets ccix, One, his smooth Pink cheeks, did rumple passionate, Like Aeschylus. 1893 H. M. Doughty Our Wherry in Wendish Lands 18 Beds of bogbean foliage, rumpling the green floating carpet of lily leaves. |
b. refl. or intr. To form into folds. rare—1.
| 1631 Mabbe Celestina v. (1894) 101 A pocks upon these long and large playtings in my Petticoates; Fie how they rumple and fold themselves about my legges. |
2. To touzle, disorder, crumple. Also with up.
| 16.. Collier of Croydon in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 389 He will not rumple Peg, nor Joan, nor Nan. 1672 Davenant To Dk. Richmond Wks. (1673) 294 Strait I beheld..The Sheets all rumpled and the Cordage slack. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock iv. 72, I..rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. v, Though girls like to be play'd with, and rumpled a little too sometimes. 1798 F. Burney Let. 28 Aug., He seized the letter..and rumpling it up in his little hands, poked it under the cushions. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xxviii, Taking off his hat and rumpling up his hair. 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am xix, I know I'm rumpling your collar, but I can't help it. |
| fig. 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 191 To unpinne your spruce fastidious oratory, to rumple her laces. 1713 C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 262 By Age too, rumpl'd and undrest, We gladly sinking down to rest, Leave following Crouds behind. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. i. 28 Though my wife assailed me loudly, Rumpled me through thick and thin. |
† 3. To squeeze together, distort. Obs.
| 1636 Davenant Wits Wks. (1673) 204 A fine young Gentleman; Only a little rumpl'd in the Womb. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Northampton. ii. (1662) 282 He was somewhat rumpled in his Mothers womb, (which caused his crooked back). 1687 Renowned Hist. Sir J. Hawkwood iv. 6 Nature had been unkind, in rumpling and distorting his Body in a disorderly Form. |
Hence ˈrumpling vbl. n.
| 1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict., A rumpling, corrugatio. 1839 W. Irving Chronicles of Wolfert's Roost (1855) 11 The heroine of the Roost escaped with a mere rumpling of the feathers. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIV. 30/2 Such surfaces..are developable, or can be unrolled without any overlapping, rumpling, or tearing. 1843 Ibid. XXVII. 477/1 These rods were further reduced in thickness..by a coarse kind of drawing, called ripping or rumpling. |