ripple

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: rip=ple

CIDE DICTIONARY

ripple, n. [From Rip, v.].

 An implement, with teeth like those of a comb, for removing the seeds and seed vessels from flax, broom corn, etc.  [1913 Webster]

ripple, v. t. 

•  To remove the seeds from (the stalks of flax, etc.), by means of a ripple.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, to scratch or tear.  Holland.  [1913 Webster]

ripple, v. i. [Cf. Rimple, Rumple.].

•  To become fretted or dimpled on the surface, as water when agitated or running over a rough bottom; to be covered with small waves or undulations, as a field of grain.  [1913 Webster]
•  To make a sound as of water running gently over a rough bottom, or the breaking of ripples on the shore.  [1913 Webster]

ripple, v. t. 

 To fret or dimple, as the surface of running water; to cover with small waves or undulations; as, the breeze rippled the lake.  [1913 Webster]

ripple, n. 

•  The fretting or dimpling of the surface, as of running water; little curling waves.  [1913 Webster]
•  A little wave or undulation; a sound such as is made by little waves; as, a ripple of laughter.  [1913 Webster]

Ripple grass. (Bot.) See Ribwort. -- Ripple marks, a system of parallel ridges on sand, produced by wind, by the current of a steam, or by the agitation of wind waves; also (Geol.), a system of parallel ridges on the surface of a sandstone stratum.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ripple, n. & v.
--n.
1 a ruffling of the water's surface, a small wave or series of waves.
2 a gentle lively sound that rises and falls, e.g. of laughter or applause.
3 a wavy appearance in hair, material, etc.
4 Electr. a slight variation in the strength of a current etc.
5 ice-cream with added syrup giving a coloured ripple effect (raspberry ripple).
6 US a riffle in a stream.
--v.
1 a intr. form ripples; flow in ripples. b tr. cause to do this.
2 intr. show or sound like ripples.

Idiom

ripple mark a ridge or ridged surface left on sand, mud, or rock by the action of water or wind.

Derivative

ripplet n. ripply adj.

ripple, n. & v.
--n. a toothed implement used to remove seeds from flax.
--v.tr. treat with a ripple.

Etymology

corresp. to MDu. & MLG repel(en), OHG riffila, rifilon

THESAURUS

ripple

agitate, agitation, babble, beat, beat up, billow, bore, breakers, broken ground, broken water, bubble, burble, chop, choppiness, chopping sea, churn, churn up, chute, cocker, cockle, comb, comber, convulse, corduroy, corduroy road, corrugate, corrugation, crankle, crease, crimp, crimple, crinkle, crumple, dimple, dirty water, disarrange, discompose, disquiet, disturb, eagre, excite, ferment, flurry, flutter, fret, furrow, goose bumps, goose pimples, gooseflesh, gravity wave, ground swell, guggle, gurgle, heave, heavy sea, heavy swell, hint, horripilation, knit, knot, lap, lift, lop, paddle, peak, perturb, perturbate, perturbation, plash, popple, pucker, purl, purse, rapid, rapids, ridge, riff, riffle, rile, rimple, ripple of applause, ripple of laughter, rise, rivel, roil, roll, roller, rough, rough water, roughen, ruck, ruckle, ruffle, rumple, sandpaper, sault, scend, sea, send, shake, shake up, shirr, shoot, slosh, soupcon, splash, stir, stir up, suggestion, surf, surge, swash, swell, swirl, swish, tidal bore, tidal wave, tide wave, trill, trouble, trough, tsunami, undulate, undulation, upset, wash, washboard, water wave, wave, wavelet, whip, whip up, whisk, white horses, whitecaps, wimple, work up, wrinkle

ROGET THESAURUS

ripple

Roughness

N roughness, tooth, grain, texture, ripple, asperity, rugosity, salebrosity, corrugation, nodosity, arborescence, pilosity, brush, hair, beard, shag, mane, whisker, moustache, imperial, tress, lock, curl, ringlet, fimbriae, pili, cilia, villi, lovelock, beaucatcher, curl paper, goatee, papillote, scalp lock, plumage, plumosity, plume, panache, crest, feather, tuft, fringe, toupee, wool, velvet, plush, nap, pile, floss, fur, down, byssus, moss, bur, fluff, knot (convolution), rough, uneven, scabrous, scaly, knotted, rugged, rugose, rugous, knurly, asperous, crisp, salebrous, gnarled, unpolished, unsmooth, roughhewn, craggy, cragged, crankling, scraggy, prickly, arborescent, leafy, well-wooded, feathery, plumose, plumigerous, laciniate, laciniform, laciniose, pappose, pileous, pilose, trichogenous, trichoid, tufted, fimbriated, hairy, ciliated, filamentous, hirsute, crinose, crinite, bushy, hispid, villous, pappous, bearded, pilous, shaggy, shagged, fringed, befringed, setous, setose, setaceous, like quills upon the fretful porcupine, rough as a nutmeg grater, rough as a bear, downy, velvety, flocculent, woolly, lanate, lanated, lanuginous, lanuginose, tomentose, fluffy, against the grain, cabello luengo y corto el seso.

Agitation

N agitation, stir, tremor, shake, ripple, jog, jolt, jar, jerk, shock, succussion, trepidation, quiver, quaver, dance, jactitation, quassation, shuffling, twitter, flicker, flutter, turbulence, perturbation, commotion, turmoil, disquiet, tumult, tumultuation, hubbub, rout, bustle, fuss, racket, subsultus, staggers, megrims, epilepsy, fits, carphology, chorea, floccillation, the jerks, St. Vitus's dance, tilmus, spasm, throe, throb, palpitation, convulsion, disturbance, chaos, restlessness, ferment, fermentation, ebullition, effervescence, hurly-burly, cahotage, tempest, storm, ground swell, heavy sea, whirlpool, vortex, whirlwind, shaking, agitated tremulous, desultory, subsultory, saltatoric, quasative, shambling, giddy-paced, saltatory, convulsive, unquiet, restless, all of a twitter, by fits and starts, subsultorily, per saltum, hop skip and jump, in convulsions, in fits, tempete dans un verre d'eau.

River

N river, running water, jet, spirt, spurt, squirt, spout, spray, splash, rush, gush, jet d'eau, sluice, water spout, water fall, cascade, force, foss, lin, linn, ghyll, Niagara, cataract, rapids, white water, catadupe, cataclysm, debacle, inundation, deluge, chute, washout, rain, rainfall, serein, shower, scud, downpour, driving rain, drenching rain, cloudburst, hyetology, hyetography, predominance of Aquarius, reign of St. Swithin, mizzle, drizzle, stillicidum, plash, dropping, falling weather, northeaster, hurricane, typhoon, stream, course, flux, flow, profluence, effluence, defluxion, flowing, current, tide, race, coulee, spring, artesian well, fount, fountain, rill, rivulet, gill, gullet, rillet, streamlet, brooklet, branch, runnel, sike, burn, beck, creek, brook, bayou, stream, river, reach, tributary, geyser, spout, waterspout, body of water, torrent, rapids, flush, flood, swash, spring tide, high tide, full tide, bore, tidal bore, eagre, hygre, fresh, freshet, indraught, reflux, undercurrent, eddy, vortex, gurge, whirlpool, Maelstrom, regurgitation, overflow, confluence, corrivation, wave, billow, surge, swell, ripple, anerythmon gelasma, beach comber, riffle, rollers, ground swell, surf, breakers, white horses, whitecaps, rough sea, heavy sea, high seas, cross sea, long sea, short sea, chopping sea, hydrodynamics, hydraulics, hydraulicostatics, rain gauge, flowmeter, pegology, irrigation, pump, watering pot, watering cart, hydrant, syringe, garden hose, lawn spray, bhisti, mussuk, fluent, diffluent, profluent, affluent, tidal, flowing, meandering, meandry, meandrous, fluvial, fluviatile, streamy, showery, rainy, pluvial, stillicidous, stillatitious, for men may come and men may go but I go on foreve, that old man river, he just keeps rolling along.

Faintness

VB whisper, breathe, murmur, purl, hum, gurgle, ripple, babble, flow, tinkle, mutter, susurrate, steal on the ear, melt in the air, float on the air.