flounce

1 a strip of pleated material used as a decoration or a trim [syn: frill, ruffle, furbelow]

2 the act of walking with exaggerated jerky motions v : walk emphatically

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aʊns

Verb

1. : To flounder; to make spastic motions.

In sewing and dressmaking, a ruffle, frill, or furbelow is a strip of fabric, lace or ribbon tightly gathered or pleated on one edge and applied to a garment, bedding, curtain or other textile as a form of trimming. A ruffle without gathers or pleats may also be made by cutting a curved strip of fabric and applying the inner or shorter edge to the garment.

A deep (wide) ruffle is usually called a flounce (earlier frounce or fronce).

Ruffles appeared at the draw-string necklines of full chemises in the 15th century, evolved into the separately-constructed ruff of the 16th century, and remained a fashionable form of trim off-and-on into modern times.

Notes

References

• Oxford English Dictionary

• Picken, Mary Brooks: The Fashion Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls, 1957. (1973 edition ISBN 0-3081-0052-2)

• Arnold, Janet: Patterns of Fashion: the cut and construction of clothes for men and women 1560-1620, Macmillan 1985. Revised edition 1986. (ISBN 0-8967-6083-9)

• Baumgarten, Linda: What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America, Yale University Press,2002. ISBN 0-3000-9580-5

• Tozer, Jane and Sarah Levitt, Fabric of Society: A Century of People and their Clothes 1770-1870, Laura Ashley Press, ISBN 0-9508-9130-4

amble, antic, barge, bead, beading, bejewel, beribbon, bespangle, binding, blunder, bob, bordering, bordure, bounce, bowl along, bundle, caper, capriole, caracole, careen, career, carry on, cavort, clump, crease, creasing, crimp, crisp, curvet, cut a dido, cut capers, cut up, dance, diamond, disport, dog-ear, double, double over, doubling, drag, droop, duplicature, edging, enfold, engrave, falter, feather, figure, filigree, fimbria, fimbriation, flag, flection, flexure, flick, fling, fling off, fling out, flip, flirt, flounce out, flounder, flower, flute, fold, fold over, fool around, foot, footslog, frill, frilling, fringe, frisk, frolic, furbelow, gait, galloon, gallop, gambado, gambol, garland, gather, gem, halt, hem, hippety-hop, hitch, hobble, hop, horse around, illuminate, infold, interfold, jerk, jewel, jig, jigger, jigget, jiggle, jog, joggle, jolt, jump, jump about, labor, lap over, lapel, lappet, limp, list, lock step, lumber, lunge, lurch, march, mince, mincing steps, motif, ornament, pace, paddle, paint, parade, peg, peplum, piaffe, piaffer, pitch, pitch and plunge, plait, plat, play, pleat, plica, plicate, plication, plicature, plod, pluck, plume, plunge, ply, prance, prink, quill, rack, ramp, reel, ribbon, rock, roll, rollick, romp, ruche, ruching, ruff, ruffle, sashay, saunter, scuff, scuffle, scuttle, seethe, selvage, shamble, shuffle, sidle, single-foot, skip, skirting, slink, slither, slog, slouch, slowness, snake, snatch, spangle, sport, stagger, stalk, stamp, start, step, stomp, storm, straddle, straggle, stride, stroll, strolling gait, struggle, strut, stumble, stump, sudden pull, swagger, sway, swing, thrash about, tinsel, tittup, toddle, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, traipse, tread, trimming, trip, trot, trudge, tuck, tumble, turn over, tweak, twill, twist, twitch, valance, velocity, volutation, waddle, walk, wallop, wallow, wamble, welt, welter, wiggle, wobble, wreathe, wrench, yank, yerk