Pucker

Origin

Probable alteration of poke (verb, or the noun meaning "a small bag").

Full definition of pucker

Verb

1. To pinch or wrinkle; to squeeze inwardly, to dimple or fold.1914 The conduct of the white strangers it was that caused him the greatest perturbation. He puckered his brows into a frown of deep thought. — Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 13.1893 He had a very dark, fearsome face, and a gleam in his eyes that comes back to me in my dreams. His hair and whiskers were shot with gray, and his face was all crinkled and puckered like a withered apple. — Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Crooked Man".

Derived terms

• pucker up

Noun

1. A fold or wrinkle.1921 The mouth was compressed, and on either side of it two tiny wrinkles had formed themselves in her cheeks. An infinity of slightly malicious amusement lurked in those little folds, in the puckers about the half-closed eyes, in the eyes themselves, bright and laughing between the narrowed lids. — Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow'', Chapter 3.
2. A state of perplexity or anxiety; confusion; bother; agitation.1874 "What a pucker everything is in!" said Bathsheba, discontentedly when the child had gone. "Get away, Maryann, or go on with your scrubbing, or do something! You ought to be married by this time, and not here troubling me!" — Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd.