To make something wrinkled, messed up, or creased, usually fabric or hair.
From Middle Dutch 'rompelen' or German 'rumpeln,' possibly onomatopoetic (imitating the sound of crumpling). Entered English in the 1600s.
Some linguists think 'rumple' might come from sounds it actually makes—the 'rum-rum' rolling sound when fabric bunches up—which shows how onomatopoeia lives in more words than we realize!
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