Ruffler

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who makes or arranges gathered or pleated strips of fabric used as decoration
2. A person who crafts or positions fabric frills added to clothing or textiles for ornamental purposes
3. An individual who designs or assembles gathered trims on garments or fabric items to enhance their appearance

Etymology: "Ruffler" is simply "ruffle" with the agent suffix "-er" attached, so it names a person who makes frills. The base word "ruffle" is the older and more interesting part of the story: it comes from the Middle English "ruffelen," meaning to wrinkle or crumple, and in Tudor and Stuart times it referred to the pleated, starched neckwear that was gathered into folds. A ruffler, then, is someone who pleats, gathers, or puffs out fabric into that kind of decorative edging. The suffix does the same job it does in "baker" or "writer": it turns a verb into a noun for the one doing the action. Because the base word is a verb with a fabric-based sense, the noun sticks closely to the craft of working cloth rather than to any broader idea of disturbing or messing things up, which is a separate meaning of "ruffle" that does not shape this word.

Synonyms: troublemaker, disturber, shaker, agitator, upsetter

Antonyms: peacemaker, settler, harmonizer, reconciler, calmer