▪ I. tuft, n.
(tʌft)
Also 5 toft, tofte, 5–7 tufft, 6 tufte; 6–7 tuffe, 7–8 tuff.
[The derivation presents many difficulties. Supposed to represent F. touffe (in OF. also toffe, tofe), generally referred to L. tūfa, ‘a kind of helmet crest’, or ‘a kind of military standard’ (in Vegetius, 386), appearing in Byzantine Greek as τοῦϕα (see Du Cange). By some held to be ult. of German origin, ? ad. OLG. top or OHG. zopf. The final t is evidently an Eng. addition: cf. carafe, vulg. craft; also cliff, clift; draff, draft; graff, graft, and vulgar paragraft, telegraft.
The difficulties of this derivation are that F. touffe is not the normal repr. of L. tūfa, but points to *tuffa, whereas the long ū of tūfa is supported by the Greek and by Beda's tuuf; also that tūfa, touffe, answer phonetically neither to Low nor High German. Cf. Pr. chuf, It. ciuffo, a tuft or lock of hair, ad. Ger. zopf. Beside these, the final t in the Eng. word is of minor difficulty.]
1. A bunch (natural or artificial) of small things, usually soft and flexible, as hairs, feathers, etc., fixed or attached at the base.
| [a 731 Beda Eccl. Hist. ii. xvi, Illud genus uexilli, quod Romani tufam, Angli uero appellant tuuf. (Hence in Henry of Huntingdon: see Du Cange.)] |
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 555 (Harl.) Vpon þe cop right of his nose he hade A werte and þer on stood a tuft [v.r. toft(e] of heres. 1463 in Bury Wills (Camden) 36 A peyre of bedys..with a knoppe, othir wyse callyd a tufft, of blak sylke. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. iii. 73 b, The rest of the haires..they doe cut away.., except a tuffe of haire on the top of their head. Ibid. v. 78 Great tufts of feathers vpon their heads. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 273 A tuft of seven bristles. 1727 [Dorrington] Philip Quarll 193 A small Tuff of Hair on each Shoulder and Hip. 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 141 The quilting of the cloth with small ornaments, called tufts, also gives a richness to the lining. 1842 Tennyson Sir Launcelot & Q. Guinevere iii, A light-green tuft of plumes she bore Closed in a golden ring. 1845 Gregory Outl. Chem. II. 345 Salicylic acid crystallises in tufts of slender prisms. |
b. Bot., etc. A cluster of short-stalked leaves or flowers growing from a common point, of stems growing from a common root, etc.; an umbel or fascicle; also, a clump of small herbs growing closely together.
Formerly applied more widely, e.g. to the receptacle of a composite flower, or to a compact seed-vessel.
† London tuft, an old name for Sweet William: see London. See also candytuft.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §70 Beastes alone, nor horses aloone, nor shepe alone,..wyll not eate a pasture euen, but leaue many tuftes and hygh grasse. 1530 Palsgr. 283/2 Tufte of grasse, monceau de herbe. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. x. 18 The..common Tansie hath a blackishe stalke..diuided..into many single braunches, at the end wherof are round tuftes, bearing yellow floures like small round buttons. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 159 The round tufts or heads which conteine the seede. 1645–50 Boate Irel. Nat. Hist. (1860) 93 Hassocky-bogs..are very thick overspread with little Tufts or Ilets..consisting of reeds, rushes [etc.]. 1727 P. Blair Pharmaco-Bot. v. 235 Tufts or Umbels of penta⁓petalous yellow Flowers. Ibid. 236 Dispos'd in small Umbells or Tuffs. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. iv. (1848) 278 Tom had long been picking his way cautiously through this treacherous forest; stepping from tuft to tuft of rushes and roots. 1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe xxx, A tuft of deep purple, the beautiful Alpine saxifrage. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 137 All the leaves of that branch may be brought in contact at their base, in which case they form a tuft or fascicle. 1908 [Miss Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 89 The Robin's favourite tuft on the top of the Cedar-tree. |
2. A small tufted patch of hair on the head or chin; a lock; an imperial (imperial B. 8).
| 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven (1831) 37 What say you then to these—long locks, fore tufts, shag hair, and all these new fashions? c 1610 Women Saints 160 No..friselled tuffes, borrowed to deceiue. 1654 tr. Martini's Conq. China 33 In the hinder part of their Heads they leave a Tuff, which being curiously woven and plated, they let hang down. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 150 On his [Chaucer's] Chin 2 thin forked Tuffs. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. ii, One of the soldiers..who showed the shaven head and the single tuft of a Mussulman. 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story v, The stylish tuft on his chin. |
3. A small group of trees or bushes; a clump. (Cf. toft1 4, which perh. belongs here.)
| 1555 Eden Decades 352 Vppon the innermoste necke to the landewarde, is a tufte of trees. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. ii. i. 34 Behind the tuft of Pines I met them. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 327 With high Woods the Hills were crownd, With tufts the vallies and each fountain side. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Tottenham, A circular tuft of elms..called the Seven Sisters. 1879 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. xi. 239 Land..more or less sprinkled with tufts of desert shrubs. |
† b. A grassy hillock, a small knoll or mound. (Cf. toft1 3.) Obs. rare.
| 1651 Howell Venice 32 The Adriatic Sea..spreading himself..towards the Continent of Italie, leaves som green tuffs or tombs of Earth uncoverd. |
4. (a) Anat. A small cluster or plexus of capillary blood-vessels, as the Malpighian tufts of the kidney; a glomerule. (b) Zool. branchial tuft or respiratory tuft: a cluster of tentacles having a respiratory function, in some tubicolous worms.
| 1841–71 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 277 The respiratory tufts..attached to the anterior extremity of the creature..form most elegant arborescent appendages, generally tinted with brilliant colours. 1848 [see Malpighian 1]. 1873 T. H. Green Introd. Pathol. (ed. 2) 68 The tufts of vessels which form the Malpighian bodies. |
† 5. A crest, as of a bird. Obs.
| 1598 Florio, Capelletto, a little tuffe vpon a peacocks head. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tuft, a lock of Hair,..also the Crest of a Bird. |
b. fig. Head, chief, top. Obs. nonce-use.
| 1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. ii. v, He is..my Chiefe, the Point, Tip, Top, and Tuft of all our family. |
† 6. A turban. Obs.
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 165/1 Tiara, a Turkish tuffe, such as the Turkes weare..on their head. 1621 Ainsworth Annot. Pentat., Exod. xxviii. 39. (1639) 117 Miter..signifieth a thing wrapped about the head. Such as the Tuffe which..is worne in the Easterne Countries. |
7. An ornamental tassel on a cap; spec. the gold tassel formerly worn by titled undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge (see quot. 1894).
Originally, at Oxford, a distinction of the sons of those peers who had a vote in the House of Lords, after 1861 of all peers and their eldest sons; after 1870 made optional.
| 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 71 That invention of Bishops and Prelates to wear Green Tufts in their Caps. a 1704 T. Brown Contn. Quaker's Serm. Wks. 1709 III. ii. 3 Let not a Cap be seen among us, with an Idolatrous Tuff upon it. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1851) I. 336/2 As he was sacrificing the tuft of his cap fell off. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. viii, Men..all in tufts or gentlemen⁓commoners' caps. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 5 Mar. 3/1 Lord Rosebery..was one of the last undergraduates of Christ Church who wore the gold tassel, known by the name of ‘tuft’, which was the distinguishing mark of noblemen and the sons of noblemen. |
b. transf. in University slang, One who wears a tuft; a titled undergraduate.
| 1755 [see tuft-hunter]. 1789 Loiterer No. 11. 6 A Tuft (when once suffered to get away from you) is scarcely ever recovered again. 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story ii, The lad went to Oxford,..frequented the best society, followed with a kind of proud obsequiousness all the tufts of the university. 1847 Jowett Let. 10 Mar., in Life & Lett. (1897) I. 158 Dufferin of Christ Church..seems a most excellent tuft. 1884 Weekly Register 18 Oct. 503/2 One don is much like another, to a lively young tuft who keeps beagles. |
8. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib.: † tuft gillyflower, a kind of gillyflower (? = pink) growing in tufts; † tuft mockado (see mockado 1, 1 b, and cf. tuftaffeta); also attrib.
[In both these, tuft may be, not the n., but = tuffed, tufted: cf. quot. 1587 s.v. mockado.]
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 96 Herbes..for windowes and pots..*Tuft gilleflowers. 1579 *Tuft mockado [see mockado 1]. 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 8, I will nicke-name no bodie: I am none of these tuft mockadoo mak-a-dooes. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 25 Penning a discourse of Tuftmockados. 1847–78 Halliwell, Tuft-mockado, a mixed stuff made to imitate tufted taffeta, or velvet. |
b. Comb. as tuft-topped adj.; tuft-gill, a tuft-gilled fish, a lophobranch (Cent. Dict.); tuft-gilled a., having tufted gills, as the order Cirribranchiata of molluscs (tooth-shells), or Lophobranchii of fishes (see lophobranchiate). See also tuft-hunter.
| 1840 Lundie Mission. Life in Samoa xiii. (1846) 79 Tall tuft-topped cocoa-nut trees. 1861 P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 222 Order Cirrobranchiata. (Tuft-gilled Crawlers). |
▪ II. tuft, v.
Forms: see prec.
[f. prec. n.]
I. 1. trans. To furnish with a tuft or tufts.
| 1535 in Archæologia IX. 251 A paire of upper stockis of purple veluette embroidered with golde and tuffed with cameryke. 1573 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 210 For Tufting vi lardge kirtells of greene Sattin with golde sarcenet. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Trav. Wks. iii. 98/1 She's ring'd, she's braceleted, she's richly tuff'd. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 914 Solemn oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts. 1743 J. Davidson æneid viii. 264 Caps tufted with wool. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. iii. ix, The officers of a crack Hussar regiment..tipped and tufted. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxxviii. 20 To make old bareness picturesque And tuft with grass a feudal tower. |
b. Upholstery. To draw together the two surfaces of (a cushion or the like) by a thread passed through at regular intervals producing depressions, which are then usually ornamented with tufts or buttons.
| 1884 [implied in tufting-button s.v. tufting vbl. n. 3]. 1891 in Cent. Dict. |
2. intr. To form a tuft or tufts; to grow in tufts.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. ii. Imposture 397 Among the dark shade of those tufting arbors. 1629 Parkinson Paradisus 317 Tufting close vpon the ground, like vnto the common Thrift. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. III. xxxiv. 408 A sea of cotton, tufting here and there by the action of the air in the undisturbed parts of the clouds. |
3. trans. To form into a tuft. rare—1. (Cf. tufted 2.)
| 1860 Hawthorne Marb. Faun viii, What weeds cluster and tuft themselves on the cornices of ruins. |
II. 4. trans. To beat (a covert) in stag-hunting. Also absol.
| 1590 Cokaine Treat. Hunting C iv b, You may begin to tuft for a Bucke. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 113 When with his hounds The laboring Hunter tufts the thicke vnbarbed grounds Where harbor'd is the Hart. 1870 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports (ed. 3) §1813 Tufting of deer. As deer frequently herd in copses, woods, and brakes, it is usual to tuft (hunt) a covert with a couple or two of steady old hounds, called tufters. 1908 Q. Rev. July 90 The lonely ridges of the Brendon hills are ‘tufted’ for a ‘warrantable’ deer. |
b. To dislodge (the game) by ‘tufting’; also fig.
| a 1640 Jackson Creed x. xxiv. §4 The..meaning of the learned moderator hath been by his followers..so meanly tufted, and so unskilfully hunted after. 1909 Quiller Couch True Tilda xxi, They had tufted him [a stag] out of the wood. |
▪ III. tuft
obs. form of toft1, tuff.