Also 5–6 wryncle, -kle, -kel, -kul, -kyl(le, 6 wrynckle, wrinkel(l, -kyll, -ckel, 6–7 wrinc(k)le (6 rinkle, 7 rinckle, -el). [Of obscure origin; possibly a back-formation from WRINKLED a.
Somner’s OE. ‘wrincle, ruga, a wrincle’ is not otherwise known. Kilian’s ‘wrinckel, ruga’ is also uncertified, and is rendered suspicious by his citing the English word.]
I. † 1. A sinuous or tortuous movement, formation, etc.; a winding or curving; a sinuosity. Obs.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, I. 2683. An hous … Callid Laboryntus,… Ful of wrynkles.
1480. Caxton, Trevisa’s Higden (1482), 40 b. Laborintus … is an hous … wrought with … windynges so diuersly by wonderful wayes and wrynclis, that [etc.].
1513. Douglas, Æneid, V. v. 62. The eddir … Lang wrinklis makis oft with hir body. Ibid., XII. viii. 69. Als feill wrynklis and turnis can scho mak As dois the swallow.
2. A crease, fold or ridge caused by the folding, puckering or contraction of a fabric, cloth or other pliant substance. Occas. in fig. context. Also without article.
In quots. 1676, 1869 with allusion to sense 4 b.
a. 1420. Wycliffite Bible, Gen. xxxviii. 14 (MS. Cotton Claudius E II). She took a roket cloþ wiþ many wrynclis.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 534/1. Wrynkyl, or plate yn clothe,… plica.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc.), 1. Nor of his clothynge one wryncle stode a wrye.
1537. Latimer, Serm. bef. Convoc., A iij b. These wordis are so spoken in parabole, and ar so wrapped in wrinkels.
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, xiii. 212. With their hosen hanging about their heels, ful of wrinckles. Ibid., xv. 312. He takes it at heart, to haue a wrinckle in his pumpe.
1617. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1639), 150. That there be no wrinckles in the clouts applied.
1676. W. Hubbard, Happiness of People, 54. Cause … for that virgin … Church to condemn themselves for some spots or wrincles in their garment.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 16, ¶ 2. His stockings [were] without a wrinkle.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 175. The roll of canvass … winds up and lets down without a single wrinkle.
1869. Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, v. Her Sunday bonnet was without spot, her Sunday gown without wrinkle.
fig. 1624. Heywood, Gunaik., IV. 191. She so farre insinuated into the King’s breast, that the wrinckles of all suggestions were cleared.
b. A slight narrow ridge or depression on a surface; a longitudinal mark; a corrugation.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 100. The wryncles on the houe.
1601. 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., III. iv. 1409. One that … admires the good wrinckle of a boote.
1677. N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat., I. 126. The Wild-Goat[s] … have Wreaths and Wrinkles on their Horns.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxii. ¶ 1. He leaves no wrinckles in the turnings up [of the paper lining].
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1740), II. 71. Whether it [sc. the horny part of the hoof] be smooth and even, or … in Wreathes or Wrinkles.
1742. H. Baker, Microsc. (1743), 224. The little Wrinkles, Hollows, or Crevices of the Corn.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 850. Wrinkles arising from the desiccation of the tube.
1839. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., II. 154/1. When … docked she did not show a wrinkle in her copper.
fig. and in fig. context. 1719–20. Swift, Stella’s Birthday, 54. The Cracks and Wrinkles of your Mind.
1822. Hazlitt, Table-T., Ser. II. vi. (1869), 127. They cause a wrinkle in the clear and polished surface of their existence.
c. transf. of physiographical features.
1805. Wordsw., Prelude, VIII. 583. Here is shadowed forth From the projections, wrinkles, cavities, A variegated landscape.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xiv. Every point and wrinkle in the headland.
1900. Le Gallienne, Trav., xv. 234. Northleach, lying in a ‘wrinkle’ of the still dreary hills.
3. A small fold or crease of the skin, esp. due to age, care, displeasure, etc.
In frequent use from c. 1590.
c. 1425. Cursor M., 18840 (Trin.). His forhede feir wemles in siȝt wiþouten wrynkul [earlier MSS. runkel, -il, ronclis] hit was sliȝt.
1530. Palsgr., 290/2. Wrinkell in ones face, raiere.
1586–90. Greene, Metam., Wks. (Grosart), IX. 30. Venus frowned on the smith with a rinkle on her forehead.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 169. Fier … causeth wrinckles and spots on their bodies.
1673. [R. Leigh], Transp. Reh., 52. There are many wrinckles and chaps we will not fill up with the paint of art.
c. 1788. W. Blake, Tiriel, 108. To count the wrinkles in thy face.
1837. R. M. Bird, Nick of the Woods, III. 71. Though the wrinkles of forty winters furrowed deeply in his brows.
1877. Black, Green Past., ii. The calm and thoughtful forehead that had as yet no wrinkle of age or care.
b. transf., fig., and in fig. context.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. i. Their bloud had (as it were) filled the wrinckles of the seas visage.
1643. Caryl, Expos. Job, I. 1519. A perfect soul-state, and a perfect state of body, hath no wrinkle in it.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., 22. No wrinkles in the face, no gray hairs on the head of eternity!
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. clxxxii. Roll on, thou … Ocean!… Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow.
1855. Whitby Gloss., 199. Wreeangs,… wrinkles of dust or dirt upon the skin.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XX. v. [They] have contributed a wrinkle of human Fun to the earnest face of Life.
c. A ripple or ruffle on the surface of water; a wavelet. Chiefly poet.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., V. xlvii. As when a stone … Prints in the angry stream a wrinkle round.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 39. The Sea … was as smooth as Glass, not the least curl or wrinkle discernable.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 180. Nor faintest wrinkles o’er the waters creep.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 17. Where the blue lake’s wrinkle marks the river’s inrush pale.
4. fig. A moral stain or blemish.
Freq. coupled (as in next) with spot, after Eph. v. 27.
a. 1400. Pauline Ep. (Powell), Eph. v. 27. Þe kyrke … not hafande a spot or a wrynkylle.
1408. Wycliffite Bible, Eph. v. 27 (MS. Fairfax 2). [That] þe chirche … hadde noo wem ne ryueling eþer wrynkele.
1530. R. Whytford, Werke for Householders, A ij. Our owne conscyence … shall clerely confesse al our hole lyfe, and euery wryncle & parte therof.
1569. Roest, trans. J. van der Noot’s Theat. Worldlings, 97. A glorious Church, without any spot or wrinckle.
1643. Caryl, Expos. Job, I. 1519. Poverty is the wrinkle of riches, and disgrace is the wrinkle of honour. Ibid. In the state of glory … we shall not have … one spot or one wrinkle.
b. Without article; chiefly in without (spot or) wrinkle.
1526. Tindale, Eph. v. 27. A glorious congregacion with oute spot or wrynckle. [Hence in later versions.]
1643. Caryl, Expos. Job, I. 1519. Believers have now a righteousness in Christ without spot or wrinkle.
1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. xxvii. 205. Henry … continued in that condition eighteen years without wrinkle of Fame.
1675. T. Brooks, Gold. Key, 325. In this Robe of Righteousness … we are without spot or wrinkle.
5. Anat., Zool., Bot. = RUGA.
1545. Raynald, Byrth Mankynde, 11. Though that the matrix … be full of ryuelles or wrinkles.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 117. The skinne of their [sc. quadrupeds’] jawes…, if it lie in wrinkles,… sheweth he is olde.
1639. T. de Gray, Expert Farrier, 352. A wrinckle … in the shoulder or in any other joynt.
1657. Tomlinson, Renou’s Disp., 275. It is a … root, which by exsiccation hath contracted wrinkles and lineations.
1732. Monro, Anat., 12. When they [sc. laminæ] make the first Turn or Wrinkle, he stiles them Carcelli corrugati.
1774. Goldsmith, Nat. Hist. (1776), IV. 214. The muzzle [of the mandril] is … strongly marked with wrinkles.
1775. [see RUGA].
1842. A. Combe, Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4), 176. The numerous folds or wrinkles which line the inner surface of the duodenum.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xiii. Like the wrinkles on a nutmeg.
6. A section of a calcining furnace.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 448. The ore … is there thrust out of the furnace into the ‘wrinkle.’
II. † 7. A crooked or tortuous action; a crafty device; a trick or wile. Obs.
1402. in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 45. A! for-writhen serpent, thi wyles ben aspied, with a thousand wrynkels thou vexed many soules.
1547. Latimer, in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 1350/2. When you note me to be so muche abused by so ignorante a manne, so simple, so playne, and so farre without all wrincles.
c. 1550. Dice Play, B v b. Euery wrynkel they haue to couer and worke disceit with al.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 54. Euery wile and … euery wrinkle of womens disposition.
8. colloq. A clever or adroit expedient or trick; a happy device; a ‘dodge.’
Freq. from c. 1840 in phr. to put one up to a wrinkle (or two).
Perh. a development from the following, or some similar piece of repartee:
1731–8. Swift, Polite Conv., i. 74. They say, mocking is catching. Miss. I never heard that. Nev. Why, then,… you have a wrinkle more than ever you had before.
1817. Lady Granville, Lett. (1894), I. 111. He could put her up to a wrinkle or two.
1848. Punch, July, 19. He … knows ‘a wrinkle’ of everything.
1875. ‘Shelsley Beauchamp,’ Nelly Hamilton, II. 155. ‘You surely don’t mean to say you are going to fish with blue-bottles?’ ‘Yes, I do, though. It’s a wrinkle.’
1882. Cassell’s Bk. Sports, 40. Such wrinkles experience alone will teach.
transf. 1832. Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), II. 44. I was … among the workmen, getting some ne plus ultra wrinkles done for the great gun, covers, etc.
b. A piece or item of useful information, knowledge or advice; a helpful or valuable hint; a ‘tip.’
1818. Sporting Mag., II. 232. On that most auspicious day, I acquired two additional wrinkles.
1862. Ld. W. Lennox, Recreat. Sportsm., I. 277. While upon the subject of yachting, we would venture to offer … a ‘wrinkle’ as to coppering them.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, VI. xii. 402. [That] news … hasn’t got into the papers yet, but I’ve had the official wrinkle.
9. Cant. An untruth, fib, lie.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Wrinkle, an untruth.
III. 10. attrib. and Comb., as wrinkle-filling, † -wizard; wrinkle-coated, -faced, † fronted, -furrowed, -scaled; wrinkle maker.
1567. Turberv., Epit., etc., 70. Was neuer Bull so fell with wrinckle fronted face.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iv. 380. Ingenious Saturn,… bald, hoary, wrinkle-faced.
1594. Nashe, Terrors of Night, F j b. So Socrates … was censured by a wrinckle-wyzard.
1613. Dekker, Devils Last Will, Wks. (Grosart), III. 351. The Founder and Vpholder of Paintings,… Wrinkle-fillings, and Botchings vp of old … Faces.
1744. Akenside, Pleas. Imag., III. 129. A female old and gray, With … wrinkle-furrow’d brow.
1784. J. Twamley, Dairying Exempl., 55. Curdly or wrinkle-coated Cheese.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants (1836), 716. Podolepis rugata, wrinkle-scaled Podolepis.
1836. E. Howard, R. Reefer, lxvii. Thought is a sad wrinkle maker.
1907. J. London, Before Adam, xii. A little … fellow, wrinkle-faced.
Hence Wrinkleful a., full of wrinkles or creases; Wrinklet, a small wrinkle.
1608. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. Decay, 121. With her best complexions, She mends her faces wrinklefull defections.
1848. Bailey, Festus (ed. 3), 224. The lake smoothed down Each shining wrinklet.
