Ringlet
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A small ring.
- 2 any of various butterflies belonging to the family Satyridae wordnet
- 3 A lock, tress.
"Her hair was in ringlets."
- 4 a little ring wordnet
- 5 Any of various butterflies with small rings on the wings, in the tribe Satyrini of the family Nymphalidae, such as Aphantopus hyperantus.
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 lock of hair in the shape of a spiral or curl wordnet
- 7 a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals) wordnet
- 1 To form into ringlets. transitive
""It's very becoming!" said Pollie coaxingly, taking his curly head, which she had been brushing and ringleting for the last half hour, all damp, into her arms."
- 2 To surround or encircle like a ringlet. transitive
"I think now that if it had gripped me with those suckers, I would have gone out into the mist too. But it didn't. It grabbed Norm. And the third tentacle ringleted his other ankle. Now he was being pulled away from me."
Example
More examples"For knovv by lot from Jove I am the povvr / Of this fair VVood, and live in Oak'n bovvr, / To nurſe the Saplings tall, and curl the grove / VVith ringlets quaint, and vvanton vvindings vvove."
Etymology
From ring + -let. Compare Middle English ryngyl, ryngyll, rengel (“ringlet”).
Related phrases
More for "ringlet"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.