pucker

[ puhk-er ]

verb (used with or without object)

1. to draw or gather into wrinkles or irregular folds, as material or a part of the face; constrict:

   Worry puckered his brow.

noun

1. a wrinkle; an irregular fold.
2. a puckered part, as of cloth tightly or crookedly sewn.
3. Archaic. a state of agitation or perturbation.

pucker

/ ˈpʌkə /

verb

1. to gather or contract (a soft surface such as the skin of the face) into wrinkles or folds, or (of such a surface) to be so gathered or contracted

noun

1. a wrinkle, crease, or irregular fold

Other Words From

• pucker·er noun
• un·puckered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pucker¹

1590–1600; apparently a frequentative form connected with poke ²; -er ⁶ and for the meaning purse

Word History and Origins

Origin of pucker¹

C16: perhaps related to poke ², from the creasing into baglike wrinkles

Example Sentences

A server pours rum over the sphere and ignites it, causing the orb to melt and revealing the main attraction, plus some pucker from passion fruit.

From Washington Post

Cranberry sauce should be sweet but not cloying, and tart without causing pucker and anguish.

From The Daily Beast

She is the author of two young adult novels, The Map That Breathed and Pucker.

From The Daily Beast

On this occasion, however, it failed to produce anything more than a woebegone pucker that foreshadowed something worse.

From Project Gutenberg

But how about the pucker along your spine, and the awfully foolish, grinny feeling around your cheek-bones?

From Project Gutenberg

Joan thought hard for a minute, with a pucker in her white brow.

From Project Gutenberg

Aunt Betsy said she feared they had not sewed the braid on straight or the pants wouldn't pucker so at the knees.

From Project Gutenberg

Elizabeth looked up with a worried pucker between her girlish brows.

From Project Gutenberg