Puckery

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having a surface that is tightly wrinkled or gathered into small folds, like a puckered fabric or skin
2. Describing something with a tight, wrinkly appearance reminiscent of gathered or puckered material
3. Characterized by a texture or look of being drawn together into small wrinkles or folds

Etymology: "Puckery" is simply "pucker" with the suffix "-y" added, meaning "covered in wrinkles" or gathered into folds. The suffix is one of the most productive in English: it turns a noun or verb into an adjective describing something having, or characterised by, the thing named. So a puckery surface is one full of puckers, much as a stony path is full of stones. The base word "pucker" is the older part of the story. It is a verb meaning to gather fabric or skin into small folds or wrinkles, and it is the source of the familiar sense of puckering one's lips. The "-y" ending is inherited from Old English "-ig", which carried the same idea of possessing a quality, and it was already well established in English by the time "puckery" was formed.

Synonyms: wrinkled, creased

Antonyms: smooth, flat