The word for today is…

tousle (verb, noun):

verb
: dishevel, rumple

noun
1 Scotland : rough dalliance : tussle
2 : a tangled mass (as of hair)

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : Tousle is a word that has been through what linguists call a “functional shift.” That’s a fancy way of saying it was originally one part of speech, then gradually came to have an additional function. Tousle started out as a verb back in the 15th century. By the late 19th century, it was also being used as a noun meaning “a tangled mass (as of hair).” Etymologists connect the word to an Old High German word meaning “to pull to pieces.”

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David is a retired surgeon originally from London who came to New Zealand twenty-seven years ago after being delayed in Singapore for thirteen years on leaving the UK. He was coerced into studying Latin...