rimple

English

Etymology

From Middle English rimpel, rympyl, from Old English *hrimpele, hrympelle (“wrinkle, rimple”), from Proto-Germanic *hrumpiljǭ, related to Old English hrimpan (“to wrinkle, rimple”), from Proto-Germanic *hrimpaną (“to bend, curve, make waves, wrinkle”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪmpəl

Noun

rimple (plural rimples)

1. A wrinkle. [from 10th c.]

Related terms

• ramp
• ripple
• rumple

Verb

rimple (third-person singular simple present rimples, present participle rimpling, simple past and past participle rimpled)

1. (now chiefly US) To wrinkle or crease. [from 15th c.]
   • 1791, Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest, Penguin, published 1999, page 261:

     The evening was fine, and the air so still, that it scarcely waved the light leaves of the trees around, or rimpled the broad expanse of the waters below.

   • 1975, Georgette Heyer, My Lord John:

     He smiled vaguely upon his hostess, and she smiled back at him, her face rimpling into a thousand furrows […]

Anagrams

• limper, per mil, prelim, rempli