1. (n.) A collection of small, flexible, or soft things in a knot or bunch; a waving or bending and spreading cluster; as, a tuft of flowers or feathers.

2. (n.) A cluster; a clump; as, a tuft of plants.

3. (n.) A nobleman, or person of quality, especially in the English universities; -- so called from the tuft, or gold tassel, on the cap worn by them.

4. (v. t.) To separate into tufts.

5. (v. t.) To adorn with tufts or with a tuft.

6. (v. i.) To grow in, or form, a tuft or tufts.

Vandyke bang bangs batch beard beaver bristles bunch clump cluster copse crest crop down feather fetlock fleck flock forelock fringe goatee group grouping groupment grove growth hackle hassock imperial knot lot mess panache peach fuzz pinion plantation planting plume plumule quiff quill scapular shock side whiskers slew stand stook stubble thicket topknot tussock whiskers wisp