Adjacent Words

Wrinkle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WRINKLE, n. [G.]
1. A small ridge or prominence, or a furrow, formed by the shrinking or contraction of any smooth substance; corrugation; a crease; as wrinkles in the face or skin.
2. A fold or rumple in cloth.
3. Roughness; unevenness.
Not the least wrinkle to deform the sky.
WRINKLE, v.t.
1. To contract into furrows and prominences; to corrugate; as, to wrinkle the skin; to wrinkle the brow.
Her wrinkled form in black and white arrayd.
2. To make rough or uneven.
A keen north wind, blowing dry, wrinkled the face of deluge, as decayd.
WRINKLE, v.i. To shrink into furrows and ridges.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a slight depression in the smoothness of a surface; "his face has many lines"; "ironing gets rid of most wrinkles" [syn: wrinkle, furrow, crease, crinkle, seam, line]
2: a minor difficulty; "they finally have the wrinkles pretty well ironed out"
3: a clever method of doing something (especially something new and different) v
1: gather or contract into wrinkles or folds; pucker; "purse ones's lips" [syn: purse, wrinkle]
2: make wrinkles or creases on a smooth surface; make a pressed, folded or wrinkled line in; "The dress got wrinkled"; "crease the paper like this to make a crane" [syn: wrinkle, ruckle, crease, crinkle, scrunch, scrunch up, crisp]
3: make wrinkled or creased; "furrow one's brow" [syn: furrow, wrinkle, crease]
4: become wrinkled or crumpled or creased; "This fabric won't wrinkle" [syn: rumple, crumple, wrinkle, crease, crinkle]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, back-formation from wrinkled twisted, winding, probably from Old English gewrinclod, past participle of gewrinclian to wind, from ge-, perfective prefix + -wrinclian (akin to wrencan to wrench) — more at co- Date: 14th century 1. a small ridge or furrow especially when formed on a surface by the shrinking or contraction of a smooth substance ; crease; specifically one in the skin especially when due to age, worry, or fatigue 2. a. method, technique b. a change in a customary procedure or method c. something new or different ; innovation 3. imperfection, irregularity • wrinkly adjective II. verb (wrinkled; wrinkling) Date: 15th century intransitive verb to become marked with or contracted into wrinkles transitive verb to contract into wrinkles ; pucker

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a slight crease or depression in the skin such as is produced by age. 2 a similar mark in another flexible surface. 3 colloq. a useful tip or clever expedient. --v. 1 tr. make wrinkles in. 2 intr. form wrinkles; become marked with wrinkles. Etymology: orig. repr. OE gewrinclod sinuous

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wrinkle Wrin"kle, v. i. To shrink into furrows and ridges.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wrinkle Wrin"kle, n. A winkle. [Local, U. S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wrinkle Wrin"kle, n. [OE. wrinkil, AS. wrincle; akin to OD. wrinckel, and prob. to Dan. rynke, Sw. rynka, Icel. hrukka, OHG. runza, G. runzel, L. ruga. ????.] 1. A small ridge, prominence, or furrow formed by the shrinking or contraction of any smooth substance; a corrugation; a crease; a slight fold; as, wrinkle in the skin; a wrinkle in cloth. ``The wrinkles in my brows.'' --Shak. Within I do not find wrinkles and used heart, but unspent youth. --Emerson. 2. hence, any roughness; unevenness. Not the least wrinkle to deform the sky. --Dryden. 3. [Perhaps a different word, and a dim. AS. wrenc a twisting, deceit. Cf. Wrench, n.] A notion or fancy; a whim; as, to have a new wrinkle. [Colloq.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wrinkle Wrin"kle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wrinkled; p. pr. & vb. n. Wrinkling.] 1. To contract into furrows and prominences; to make a wrinkle or wrinkles in; to corrugate; as, wrinkle the skin or the brow. ``Sport that wrinkled Care derides.'' --Milton. Her wrinkled form in black and white arrayed. --Pope. 2. Hence, to make rough or uneven in any way. A keen north wind that, blowing dry, Wrinkled the face of deluge, as decayed. --Milton. Then danced we on the wrinkled sand. --Bryant. To wrinkle at, to sneer at. [Obs.] --Marston.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(wrinkles, wrinkling, wrinkled) 1. Wrinkles are lines which form on someone's face as they grow old. His face was covered with wrinkles... N-COUNT: usu pl 2. When someone's skin wrinkles or when something wrinkles it, lines start to form in it because the skin is getting old or damaged. The skin on her cheeks and around her eyes was beginning to wrinkle. ...protection against the sun's rays that age and wrinkle the skin. VERB: V, V n • wrinkled I did indeed look older and more wrinkled than ever. ADJ 3. A wrinkle is a raised fold in a piece of cloth or paper that spoils its appearance. He noticed a wrinkle in her stocking. N-COUNT 4. If cloth wrinkles, or if someone or something wrinkles it, it gets folds or lines in it. Her stockings wrinkled at the ankles... I wrinkled the velvet. VERB: V, V n • wrinkled His suit was wrinkled and he looked very tired. = crumpled ADJ 5. When you wrinkle your nose or forehead, or when it wrinkles, you tighten the muscles in your face so that the skin folds. Frannie wrinkled her nose at her daughter... Ellen's face wrinkles as if she is about to sneeze. VERB: V n, V

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rin'-k'-l (qamaT, "to lay hold on"; rhutis, "a wrinkle"): In Job 16:8, the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes, "Thou hast laid fast hold on me" (margin "shrivelled me up") for the King James Version "Thou hast filled me with wrinkles." In Eph 5:27, Paul's figurative reference to the church as a bride, "not having spot or wrinkle," is indicative of the perennial youth and attractiveness of the church.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Furrow, crease, fold, plait, gather, pucker, rumple, corrugation, rimple. 2. (Colloq.) Notion, whim, fancy, whimsey, caprice, crotchet, vagary, freak, quirk, maggot. II. v. a. Corrugate, crease, rumple, cockle, pucker, crumple.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A wrinkle-bellied whore; one who has had a number of bastards: child-bearing leaves wrinkles in a woman's belly. To take the wrinkles out of any one's belly; to fill it out by a hearty meal. You have one wrinkle more in your a-se; i.e. you have one piece of knowledge more than you had, every fresh piece of knowledge being supposed by the vulgar naturalists to add a wrinkle to that part.

Moby Thesaurus

abbreviate, age, bezel, bonus, bristle, canal, canalize, carve, chamfer, channel, chase, cheat the undertaker, chink, chisel, circumscribe, coarct, cocker, cockle, compact, compress, concentrate, condense, consolidate, constrict, constringe, contract, corrugate, corrugation, crack, cramp, crankle, cranny, craze, crease, crimp, crimple, crinkle, crumple, curtail, cut, dado, decline, decoration, decrease, dike, ditch, dodder, draw, draw in, draw together, engrave, engraving, extra, extra added attraction, extra dash, fad, faddiness, faddishness, faddism, faddist, fade, fail, filigree, filling, fillip, flourish, flute, fluting, fold, frill, furrow, gash, get along, get on, goffer, gouge, groove, grow old, gully, incise, incision, knit, knot, lagniappe, microgroove, narrow, novelty, ornament, padding, pleat, plica, plow, premium, pucker, pucker up, purse, rabbet, rage, reduce, ridge, rifle, rifling, rimple, ripple, rivel, ruck, ruckle, ruffle, rumple, rut, score, scratch, screw, scrunch, set on edge, shake, shirr, shorten, shrivel, sink, slit, solidify, something extra, strangle, strangulate, streak, stria, striate, striation, stuffing, sulcation, sulcus, superaddition, totter, trench, trimming, trough, turn gray, turn white, twist, wane, waste away, well-worn groove, wimple, wither, wizen