puckering

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

puck•er /ˈpʌkɚ/   v. 

1. to draw or gather into wrinkles or folds;
   constrict: [no object]
   His face puckered when he bit into the sour candy.
   [~ + object]
   She puckered her lips, expecting a kiss.

n. [countable]

2. an irregular fold;
   wrinkle.
3. a puckered part, as of cloth tightly or crookedly sewn.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

puck•er  (puk′ər), v.t., v.i. 

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

n. 

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

• 1590–1600; apparently a frequentative form connected with poke²; see -er⁶ and for the meaning compare purse

puck′er•er, n. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

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

Etymology: 16th Century: perhaps related to poke², from the creasing into baglike wrinkles