ruche

See also: ruché

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French ruche, from Middle French rusche, from Medieval Latin rusca (“bark”), from Gaulish *ruskā, from Proto-Celtic *rūskos (“bark”). Compare Breton rusk, Irish rúsc, Welsh rhisgl and Catalan rusc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹuːʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːʃ

Noun

ruche (plural ruches)

Sense 1

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.
   • 1903, Henry James, The Ambassadors‎^[1]:

     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.

Derived terms

• ruching (noun)

Translations

fluted or pleated fabric

• Esperanto: ruŝo
• German: Rüsche (de) f
• Polish: riusza f, riuszka f

Verb

ruche (third-person singular simple present ruches, present participle ruching, simple past and past participle ruched)

1. To flute or pleat (fabric).

   ruched curtains

   • 1864, Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine:

     At each seam the dress opens to a-point over a silk petticoat. The skirt is ruched around the bottom and the openings, between which are bows of ribbon and lace.

   • 1899, The Country Gentleman, page 337:

     This will consist in large part of a half-dozen inexpensive flowered organdies, which she has picked up at various sales for from ten to twenty cents a yard. She has had all of them made with low waists, ruffled or ruched around the corsage, ...

   • 1984, Natalie Rothstein, Madeleine Ginsburg, Avril Hart, Four hundred years of fashion, page 138:

     The matching skirt consists of a drape of pink figured silk, tucked up at the hips to show tiers of machine-made lace frills and pleats […] It is ruched in front and has a train box-pleated into the back.

2. To bunch up (fabric); to ruck up.
   • 2014, Harriet Evans, Not Without You, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 47:

     Joe Baxter pulled the dress farther down, so it was ruched around my middle, the bottom half pulled up to my stomach.

   • 2017, Laura Trentham, An Indecent Invitation: Spies and Lovers Book 1, Laura Huskins, →ISBN:

     A woman with an agonized expression on her up-turned face sat with her knees apart while a man buried his head between her legs. Her dress was ruched around her waist, and her breasts were bared. Gilmore's scandalous, erotic art.

   • 2018, Raquel Byrnes, Tremblers, Pelican Ventures Book Group, →ISBN:

     Clad in a leather bodice and black skirts ruched up past her knees, the wild-haired rescuer pushed a pair of brass goggles up onto her mop of red locks and squinted. “Well, this is a fine mess,” she said.

See also

• ruck (“to crease”)
• rutch (“to slide”)

Bourbonnais-Berrichon

Alternative forms

• rutse, reuche (Berrichon), ruiche (Berrichon)

Noun

ruche f

1. robin

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• reeche, rouche (northern Moselle Franconian)
• rieche (southern Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

From Middle High German rūchen, from Old High German *rūhhan, northern variant of riohhan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʀuxə/

Verb

ruche (third-person singular present rüch, past tense roch, past participle jeroche)

1. (Ripuarian, transitive or intransitive) to smell

French

des ruches (1)

des ruches décoratives (2)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French rusche, from Medieval Latin rusca (“bark”), from Gaulish *ruskā, from Proto-Celtic *rūskos (“bark”).

Compare Breton rusk, Irish rúsc, Welsh rhisgl and Catalan rusc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁyʃ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ruche f (plural ruches)

1. hive, beehive
2. (textiles, fashion) ruffle; flounce; ruche

Derived terms

• rucher
• rucheur

Descendants

• → English: ruche
• → German: Rüsche
• → Italian: ruche
• → Polish: riusza

Further reading

• ruche on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr
• “ruche”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ruche.

Noun

ruche f (invariable)

1. ruche

Middle English

Adjective

ruche

1. Alternative form of riche (“rich”)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French rusche, from Early Medieval Latin rusca (“bark”), from Gaulish *ruskā, from Proto-Celtic *rūsklos (“bark”). Compare Breton rusk, Irish rúsc, Welsh rhisgl and Catalan rusc.

Noun

ruche f (plural ruches)

1. (Jersey) frill