tuffet

English

some of the tuffets on which Miss Muffet may or may not have been sitting

Etymology

From Old French touffel, diminutive of touffe (“tuft”). Regarding etymological and semantic uncertainty, see Wikipedia at Little Miss Muffet § Tuffet and §§ Uncertain meaning.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

tuffet (plural tuffets)

  1. A clump of grass or similar vegetation; a small grass-covered mound.
    • 1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 23:
      Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider, Who sat down beside her, And frighted Miss Muffet away.
  2. (furniture) A large cushion which may have an internal frame, used as a low seat or stool.
  3. An inflatable cushion serving as landing area for precision accuracy parachuting.

Translations

See also

(stool): footstool, pouffe, hassock, ottoman, tumpty

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.