Ruche
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A strip of fabric which has been fluted or pleated.
- 2 A small ruff of fluted or pleated fabric worn at neck or wrist.
"Mrs. Newsome wore at operatic hours a black silk dress—very handsome, he knew it was "handsome"—and an ornament that his memory was able further to identify as a ruche."
- 3 A pile of arched tiles, used to catch and retain oyster spawn.
- 1 To flute or pleat (fabric).
"ruched curtains"
- 2 To bunch up (fabric); to ruck up.
"Joe Baxter pulled the dress farther down, so it was ruched around my middle, the bottom half pulled up to my stomach."
Example
More examples""Ruche" is literally French for "beehive," but means something quite a bit different in English. If you use your imagination, however, you can see some similarities."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *Hrew-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewk- Proto-Celtic *rukskos Proto-Celtic *rūskos Gaulish rūscabor. Early Medieval Latin rusca Old French rusche Middle French rusche French ruchebor. English ruche Borrowed from French ruche, from Middle French rusche, from Old French rusche, from Early Medieval Latin rusca (“bark”), borrowed from Gaulish rūsca, from Proto-Celtic *rūskos (“bark”), from *rukskos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewk- (“to dig up”), from *Hrew- (“to tear out, dig out”).
More for "ruche"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.