Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To create wrinkles, creases, or folds on a surface that was originally smooth.
   • To make a hoarse, rattling sound, often associated with breathing.

Usage and Examples

• Verb (to wrinkle or crease):

  • Be careful not to ruckle the map when you fold it.
  • The heavy book in her lap had ruckled the fabric of her dress.

• Verb (to make a rattling sound):

  • The old man began to ruckle and cough in his sleep.
  • A deathly ruckling came from the patient's throat.

Advanced Usage and Notes

• Specific Contexts: The sense of making a hoarse sound is often used in literary or medical contexts to describe labored, morbid, or deathbed breathing.
• Formality: This verb is relatively rare and can sound literary or archaic, especially in its second meaning.

Variants and Related Words

• Ruck (noun/verb): A fold, crease, or wrinkle; to crease or wrinkle. This is a more common variant for the "wrinkle" meaning.
  • There's a ruck in the tablecloth.
• Wrinkle (noun/verb): A more common and general synonym for a small fold or line in a surface.
• Crease (noun/verb): A line or ridge produced by folding or crushing.

Synonyms

• For "to wrinkle": crease, crumple, crinkle, rumple.
• For "to make a rattling sound": wheeze, rattle, gasp (context-dependent).

Phrasal Verbs / Common Constructions

• Ruckle up: This construction emphasizes the action of becoming wrinkled or gathered into folds.
  • The sheet had ruckled up at the foot of the bed.

Verb

1. make wrinkles or creases on a smooth surface; make a pressed, folded or wrinkled line in
   • The dress got wrinkled
   • crease the paper like this to make a crane
2. make a hoarse, rattling sound