The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tuft \Tuft\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tufted; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Tufting.]
   1. To separate into tufts.
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   2. To adorn with tufts or with a tuft. --Thomson.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tuft \Tuft\, v. i.
   To grow in, or form, a tuft or tufts.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tuft \Tuft\, n. [Prov. E. tuff, F. touffe; of German origin; cf.
   G. zopf a weft of hair, pigtail, top of a tree. See Top
   summit.]
   1. 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.
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   2. A cluster; a clump; as, a tuft of plants.
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            Under a tuft of shade.                --Milton.
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            Green lake, and cedar fuft, and spicy glade.
                                                  --Keble.
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   3. 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. [Cant, Eng.]
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            Several young tufts, and others of the faster men.
                                                  --T. Hughes.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

tuft
    n 1: a bunch of hair or feathers or growing grass [syn: tuft,
         tussock]
    2: a bunch of feathers or hair

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

53 Moby Thesaurus words for "tuft":
   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