Also 5 toft, tofte, 5–7 tufft, 6 tufte; 6–7 tuffe, 7–8 tuff. [The derivation presents many difficulties. Supposed to represent F. touffe (in OF. also toffe, tofe), generally referred to L. tūfa, ‘a kind of helmet crest,’ or ‘a kind of military standard’ (in Vegetius, 386), appearing in Byzantine Greek as τοῦφα (see Du Cange). By some held to be ult. of German origin, ? ad. OLG. top or OHG. zopf. The final t is evidently an Eng. addition: cf. carafe, vulg. craft; also cliff, clift; draff, draft; graff, graft, and vulgar paragraft, telegraft.
The difficulties of this derivation are that F. touffe is not the normal repr. of L. tūfa, but points to *tuffa, whereas the long ū of tūfa is supported by the Greek and by Beda’s tuuf; also that tūfa, touffe, answer phonetically neither to Low nor High German. Cf. Pr. chuf, It. ciuffo, a tuft or lock of hair, ad. Ger. zopf. Beside these, the final t in the Eng. word is of minor difficulty.]
1. A bunch (natural or artificial) of small things, usually soft and flexible, as hairs, feathers, etc., fixed or attached at the base.
[a. 731. Beda, Eccl. Hist., II. xvi. Illud genus uexilli, quod Romani tufam, Angli uero appellant tuuf. (Hence in Henry of Huntingdon: see Du Cange.)]
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 555 (Harl.). Vpon þe cop right of his nose he hade A werte and þer on stood a tuft [v.r. toft(e] of heres.
1463. in Bury Wills (Camden), 36. A peyre of bedys … with a knoppe, othir wyse callyd a tufft, of blak sylke.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., III. iii. 73 b. The rest of the haires … they doe cut away…, except a tuffe of haire on the top of their head. Ibid., v. 78. Great tufts of feathers vpon their heads.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., 273. A tuft of seven bristles.
1727. [Dorrington], Philip Quarll, 193. A small Tuff of Hair on each Shoulder and Hip.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), I. 141. The quilting of the cloth with small ornaments, called tufts, also gives a richness to the lining.
1842. Tennyson, Lancelot & Guinevere, iii. A light-green tuft of plumes she bore Closed in a golden ring.
1845. W. Gregory, Outl. Chem., II. 345. Salicylic acid crystallises in tufts of slender prisms.
b. Bot., etc. A cluster of short-stalked leaves or flowers growing from a common point, of stems growing from a common root, etc.; an umbel or fascicle; also, a clump of small herbs growing closely together.
Formerly applied more widely, e.g., to the receptacle of a composite flower, or to a compact seed-vessel.
† London tuft, an old name for Sweet William: see LONDON. See also CANDYTUFT.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 70. Beastes alone, nor horses aloone, nor shepe alone,… wyll not eate a pasture euen, but leaue many tuftes and hygh grasse.
1530. Palsgr., 283/2. Tufte of grasse, monceau de herbe.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. x. 18. The … common Tansie hath a blackishe stalke … diuided … into many single braunches, at the end wherof are round tuftes, bearing yellow floures like small round buttons.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 159. The round tufts or heads which conteine the seede.
1645–50. Boate, Irel. Nat. Hist. (1860), 93. Hassocky-bogs … are very thick overspread with little Tufts or Ilets … consisting of reeds, rushes [etc.].
1727. P. Blair, Pharmaco-Bot., v. 235. Tufts or Umbels of pentapetalous yellow Flowers. Ibid., 236. Dispos’d in small Umbells or Tuffs.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., IV. (1848), 278. Tom had long been picking his way cautiously through this treacherous forest; stepping from tuft to turt of rushes and roots.
1853. Miss Yonge, Heir of Redclyffe, xxx. A tuft of deep purple, the beautiful Alpine saxifrage.
1861. Bentley, Man. Bot., 137. All the leaves of that branch may be brought in contact at their base, in which case they form a tuft or fascicle.
1908. [Miss Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 89. The Robin’s favourite tuft on the top of the Cedar-tree.
2. A small tufted patch of hair on the head or chin; a lock; an imperial (IMPERIAL B. 8).
1601. Dent, Pathw. Heaven (1831), 37. What say you then to these—long locks, fore tufts, shag hair, and all these new fashions?
c. 1610. Women Saints, 160. No … friselled tuffes, borrowed to deceiue.
1654. trans. Martini’s Conq. China, 33. In the hinder part of their Heads they leave a Tuff, which being curiously woven and plated, they let hang down.
1711. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), III. 150. On his [Chaucer’s] Chin 2 thin forked Tuffs.
1831. Scott, Ct. Robt., ii. One of the soldiers … who showed the shaven head and the single tuft of a Mussulman.
1840. Thackeray, Shabby-genteel Story, v. The stylish tuft on his chin.
3. A small group of trees or bushes; a clump. (Cf. TOFT 4, which perh. belongs here.)
1555. Eden, Decades, 352. Vppon the innermoste necke to the landewarde, is a tufte of trees.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., II. i. 34. Behind the tuft of Pines I met them.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 327. With high Woods the Hills were crownd, With tufts the vallies and each fountain side.
1778. Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), s.v. Tottenham, A circular tuft of elms … called the Seven Sisters.
1879. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., xi. 239. Land … more or less sprinkled with tufts of desert shrubs.
† b. A grassy hillock, a small knoll or mound. (Cf. TOFT 3.) Obs. rare.
1651. Howell, Venice, 32. The Adriatic Sea … spreading himself … towards the Continent of Italie, leaves som green tuffs or tombs of Earth uncoverd.
4. (a) Anat. A small cluster or plexus of capillary blood-vessels, as the Malpighian tufts of the kidney; a glomerule. (b) Zool. Branchial or respiratory tuft: a cluster of tentacles having a respiratory function, in some tubicolous worms.
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 277. The respiratory tufts … attached to the anterior extremity of the creature … form most elegant arborescent appendages, generally tinted with brilliant colours.
1848. [see MALPIGHIAN1].
1873. T. H. Green, Introd. Pathol. (ed. 2), 68. The tufts of vessels which form the Malpighian bodies.
† 5. A crest, as of a bird. Obs.
1598. Florio, Capelletto, a little tuffe vpon a peacocks head.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tuft, a lock of Hair,… also the Crest of a Bird.
† b. fig. Head, chief, top. Obs. nonce-use.
1625. B. Jonson, Staple of N., II. v. He is … my Chiefe, the Point, Tip, Top, and Tuft of all our family.
† 6. A turban. Obs.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 165/1. Tiara, a Turkish tuffe, such as the Turkes weare … on their head.
1621. Ainsworth, Annot. Pentat., Exod. xxviii. 39 (1639), 117. Miter … signifieth a thing wrapped about the head. Such as the Tuffe which … is worne in the Easterne Countries.
7. An ornamental tassel on a cap; spec. the gold tassel formerly worn by titled undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge (see quot. 1894).
Originally, at Oxford, a distinction of the sons of those peers who had a vote in the House of Lords, after 1861 of all peers and their eldest sons; since 1870 made optional.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, I. III. 71. That invention of Bishops and Prelates to wear Green Tufts in their Caps.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Contn. Quaker’s Serm., Wks. 1709, III. II. 3. Let not a Cap be seen among us, with an Idolatrous Tuff upon it.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1851), I. 336/2. As he was sacrificing the tuft of his cap fell off.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., viii. Men … all in tufts or gentlemen-commoners’ caps.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 5 March, 3/1. Lord Rosebery … was one of the last undergraduates of Christ Church who wore the gold tassel, known by the name of ‘tuft,’ which was the distinguishing mark of noblemen and the sons of noblemen.
b. transf. in University slang, One who wears a tuft; a titled undergraduate.
1755. [see TUFT-HUNTER].
1789. Loiterer, No. 11. 6. A Tuft (when once suffered to get away from you) is scarcely ever recovered again.
1840. Thackeray, Shabby-genteel Story, ii. The lad went to Oxford,… frequented the best society, followed with a kind of proud obsequiousness all the tufts of the university.
1847. Jowett, Lett., 10 March, in Life & Lett. (1897), I. 158. Dufferin of Christ Church … seems a most excellent tuft.
1884. Weekly Register, 18 Oct., 503/2. One don is much like another, to a lively young tuft who keeps beagles.
8. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib.: † tuft gillyflower, a kind of gillyflower (? = pink) growing in tufts; † tuft mockado (see MOCKADO 1, 1 b, and cf. TUFTAFFETA); also attrib.
[In both these, tuft may be, not the sb., but = tuffed, TUFTED: cf. quot. 1587 s.v. MOCKADO.]
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 96. Herbes … for windowes and pots … *Tuft gilleflowers.
1579. *Tuft mockado [see MOCKADO 1].
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 8. I will nicke-name no bodie: I am none of these tuft mockadoo mak-a-dooes.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 25. Penning a discourse of Tuftmockados.
1847–78. Halliwell, Tuft-mockado, a mixed stuff made to imitate tufted taffeta, or velvet.
b. Comb. as tuft-topped adj.; tuft-gill, a tuft-gilled fish, a lophobranch (Cent. Dict.); tuft-gilled a., having tufted gills, as the order Cirribranchiata of mollusks (tooth-shells), or Lophobranchii of fishes (see LOPHOBRANCHIATE). See also TUFT-HUNTER.
1840. Lundie, Mission. Life in Samoa, xiii. (1846), 79. Tall tuft-topped cocoa-nut trees.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit., 1860, 222. Order Cirrobranchiata. (Tuft-gilled Crawlers).
