weave

en-verb

weave (third-person singular simple present weaves, present participle weaving, simple past and past participle weaved)

weaves (present singular third-person)
weaving (participle present)
weaved (participle past)
weaved (past)

From Middle English weven (“to wander”); probably from Old Norse veifa (“move around, wave”), related to Latin vibrare.

The ambulance weaved its way through the heavy traffic.

Weave a circle round him thrice,
 And close your eyes with holy dread:
 For he on honey-dew hath fed,
 And drank the milk of Paradise.

1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 58:

(transitive) To make (a path or way) by winding in and out or from side to side.

serpenter

to make (a path or way) by winding in and out or from side to side


peruke

From French perruque. Doublet of periwig.

To poſterity perhaps his prints vvill carry an idea of ſomething burleſque; perukes of outrageous length flovving over ſuits of armour compoſe vvonderfull habits.

1762–1771, Horace Walpole, “Mr. JOHN SMITH”, in A Catalogue of Engravers, Who Have Been Born, or Resided in England; […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV, or Engravers), London: […] Thomas Farmer […], →OCLC, page 105:

But now at thirty years my hair is gray— / (I wonder what it will be like at forty? / I thought of a peruke the other day) […]

1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto I, stanza CCXIII, page 109:

Let the long peruke succeed the godly cropt hair; the cravat, the ruff; […]

1834, Robert Southey, “Ante-preface”, in The Doctor, &c., volume I, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, →OCLC, pages 35–36:

Every chair was filled, the line of assistants working like conjurors at the bizarre hairstyles, a splendid confusion of feathers and flared perukes, wings of back-brushed hair, like the plumage of an aviary.

1979, J.G. Ballard, chapter 19, in The Unlimited Dream Company:

With a delicate touch, he reset his golden peruke on his sweat-slick skull.

1992, Kim Newman, Anno Dracula, Titan Books, published 2011, page 135:

A wig, especially one with long hair on the sides and back, worn mainly by men in the 17th and 18th centuries.


auburn

en-adj

auburn (comparative more auburn, superlative most auburn)

more auburn (comparative)
most auburn (superlative)

Early Modern English auburn (“brown, reddish brown”) from Middle English aubourne, abron, abroune, abrune (“light brown, yellowish brown, blond”), alteration (due to conflation with Middle English brun (“brown”)) of earlier auborne (“yellowish-white, flaxen”) from Old French auborne, alborne (“blond, flaxen, off-white”) from Medieval Latin alburnus (“whitish”), from Latin albus (“white”). More at albino, brown.

All were watching somebody in the garden with deep interest, their three faces close together: a jovial and round one, a pale one with dark hair, and a fair one whose tresses were auburn. “Don’t push! You can see as well as I,” said Retty, the auburn-haired and youngest girl, without removing her eyes from the window.

1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXI, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:

[…]; nor was Miss Wilkinson the ideal: he had often pictured to himself the great violet eyes and the alabaster skin of some lovely girl, and he had thought of himself burying his face in the rippling masses of her auburn hair.

1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XXXIII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

I never thought I'd meet a girl like you / Meet a girl like you / With auburn hair and tawny eyes

1982, “I Ran (So Far Away)”, performed by A Flock of Seagulls:


chestnut

en-noun

chestnut (countable and uncountable, plural chestnuts)

→ Gujarati: ચેસ્ટનટ (cesṭanaṭ)

Formerly chesten nut, from Middle English chesten, Middle English chesteyne, chasteine, from Old English ċisten and reinforced by Old French chastaigne, both from Latin castānea, from Ancient Greek καστάνεια (kastáneia). Compare castanet.

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire


rat

From Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”). However, the rat may have been unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, and the Proto-Germanic word may have referred to a different animal; see *rattaz for more. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century.
Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Middle Low German ratte, radde; Middle High German rate, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, although Kroonen accounts for it with a Proto-Germanic stem *raþō nom., *ruttaz gen., showing both ablaut and a Kluge's law alternation, with the variation arising from varying remodellings in the descendants. Kroonen states that this requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t and is incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).

der

Our teenager has become a mall rat.

He loved hockey and was a devoted rink rat.

(slang) A person who routinely spends time at a particular location.

завсегда́тай

a person who routinely spends time at a certain location


blonde

Alternative form of blond (person of fair hair). (Used especially of a woman. See the usage notes in the entry blond.)


hair

en-verb

hair (third-person singular simple present hairs, present participle hairing, simple past and past participle haired)

hairs (present singular third-person)
hairing (participle present)
haired (participle past)
haired (past)

From Middle English her, heer, hær, from Old English hǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *hār, from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hier (“hair”), West Frisian hier (“hair”), Dutch haar (“hair”), German Low German Haar (“hair”), German Haar (“hair”), Swedish, Danish and Norwegian hår (“hair”), Icelandic hár (“hair”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cheveler, chevelere (“hair”), borrowed from Old French chevelëure (“hair, head-hair, coiffure, wig”).
The modern spelling with ai is not a regular representation of the vowel developed from Middle English. Rather, it is from Middle English here (haircloth) influenced by Old French haire.

noncog

He has haired up and healed over.

1863, Yankee-notions - Volume 12, page 312:

It has haired over nicely. There are no bad results from it in any way whatever that I can detect.

1887, National Stockman and Farmer - Volume 11, page 7:

The bald patch on his hip was hairing over and he no longer limped.

1992, Hugh Ruppersburg, Georgia Voices: Fiction, page 492:

(intransitive) To grow hair (where there was a bald spot).

karvoittua

to grow hair where there was a bald spot


eyelash

(anatomy, dermatology) One of the hairs which grows along the edge of eyelids.


braid

en-verb

braid (third-person singular simple present braids, present participle braiding, simple past and past participle braided)

braids (present singular third-person)
braiding (participle present)
braided (participle past)
braided (past)

From Middle English braiden, breided, bræiden, from Old English breġdan (“to move quickly, pull, shake, swing, throw (wrestling), draw (sword), drag; bend, weave, braid, knit, join together; change color, vary, be transformed; bind, knot; move, be pulled; flash”), from Proto-West Germanic *bregdan, from Proto-Germanic *bregdaną (“to flicker, flutter, jerk, tug, twitch, flinch, move, swing”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrēḱ-, *bʰrēǵ- (“to shine, shimmer”).
Cognate with Scots Scots brade, Scots braid (“to move quickly or suddenly”), Saterland Frisian braidje (“to knit”), West Frisian breidzje, Dutch breien (“to knit”), Low German breiden, German breiden, Bavarian bretten (“to move quickly, twitch”), Icelandic bregða (“to move quickly, jerk”), Faroese bregða (“to move quickly, react swiftly; to draw (sword)”) and Faroese bregda (“to plaid, braid, twist, twine”).

cog

Braid your locks with rosy twine.

1671, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:

(transitive) To weave together, intertwine (strands of fibers, ribbons, etc.); to arrange (hair) in braids.


braid

en-noun

braid (countable and uncountable, plural braids)

The physician should evaluate for a history of tight ponytails, buns, chignons, braids, twists, weaves, cornrows, dreadlocks, sisterlocks, and hair wefts in addition to the usage of religious hair coverings.

2021, Becky S. Li, Howard I. Maibach, Ethnic Skin and Hair and Other Cultural Considerations, page 154:

A weave of three or more strands of fibers, ribbons, cords or hair often for decoration.

We introduce braids via their historical roots and uses, make connections with knot theory and present the mathematical theory of braids through the braid group.

2009, Mitchell A. Berger, Louis H. Kauffman, Renzo L. Ricca, Lectures on Topological Fluid Mechanics, page 1:

In order to characterise the structure and complexity of a braid different numbers or topological invariants can be calculated.

2012, A. T. Skjeltorp, Tamas Vicsek, Complexity from Microscopic to Macroscopic Scales, page 144:

(mathematics, topology) Given two sets of n points on corresponding positions on two parallel lines, a braid is a unique set of crossings (over or under) between n strands that connect each point on one line to a point on the other line such that all points represent the terminus of one and only one strand and the traversal of any strand from a starting point to an ending point never moves further away from the from the ending point.


braid

From Middle English brede, bræd, bred, from Old English bred (“board, plank, tablet, table”), from Proto-West Germanic *bred, from Proto-Germanic *bredą (“board, plank”), e-grade byform of *burdą (“board, plank”). Cognate with Scots bred, braid, brad (“board, plank, wooden tablet”), Saterland Frisian Brääd (“board, plank”), West Frisian bret (“board, plank”), Dutch bred, berd (“plank, table”), German Low German Bredd (“board, plank”), German Brett (“board, plank”), Danish bræt (“board, plank”)..

cog

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) A board to press curd for cheese.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) A flat board attached to a beam, used for weighing.


blond

en-adj

blond (comparative blonder or more blond, superlative blondest or most blond)

blonder (comparative)
more blond (comparative)
blondest (superlative)
most blond (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French blond m, from Old French blond, blont, blund, (> Medieval Latin blondus), from Frankish *blund (“a mixed color between golden and light-brown”), from Proto-Germanic *blundaz (“mixed, blinding”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- (“to become turbid, see badly, go blind”). Compare Old English blondenfeax (“grey-haired”), Old English blandan (“to mix”). More at blend.
Alternative etymology connects Frankish *blund to Proto-Germanic *blundaz (“blond”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥ndʰ-, *bʰlendʰ- (“blond, red-haired”). If so, then it would be cognate with Sanskrit ब्रध्न (bradhná, “ruddy, pale red, yellowish”).

cog

“She was so blond, that where it said 'sign here,' she wrote Gemini.” He had given her only the weakest of smiles.

2010, Mariah Stewart, Moon Dance, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN:

Katelyn's laugh was nearly uncontrollable. “You are so blond sometimes,” she said with a long laughing sigh, but then calmed herself down.

2002, Michael Jay, The Altherian Code, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 118:

Alternative spelling of blonde (“stupid”)


combover

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-combover.wav

With his funny comb-over and shy manner he was a strange man but she knew that he was a good man, and it is goodness that counts.

2008, Nicholas Drayson, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, page 191:

A manner of combing hair from one side to the other in an attempt to conceal a medial bald patch.

přehazovačka

a manner of combing hair to conceal a bald spot


shorn

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

This is the Prieſt all ſhaven and ſhorn, that married the man all tattered and torn[.]

1784, The House that Jack Built, page 8:


wool

en-noun

wool (usually uncountable, plural wools)

→ Japanese: ウール (ūru)

From Middle English wolle, from Old English wull, from Proto-West Germanic *wullu, from Proto-Germanic *wullō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Wulle, German Low German Wull, Dutch wol, German Wolle, Norwegian ull; also Welsh gwlân, Latin lāna, Lithuanian vìlna, Russian во́лос (vólos), Slovak vlna, Bulgarian влас (vlas), Albanian lesh (“wool, hair, fleece”). Doublet of lana.
The vowel development u → o → oo is purely graphical. Modern English generally avoids the string ‹wu› in favour of ‹wo›, and the resulting woll was then altered to wool (as supposedly better representing the pronunciation).

wool of bat and tongue of dog

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

(obsolete) Short, thick hair, especially when crisped or curled.

(British, New Zealand) Yarn, including that made from synthetic fibers.

(Liverpool, derogatory) A woolly back; a resident of a satellite town outside Liverpool, such as St Helens or Warrington. See also Yonner.

The object of your affection is the treetop connection / Where basically you love to smoke your wools

1991 March 29, “Slow Down” (0:25 from the start), in One for All, performed by Brand Nubian:

He rocked Caesar's chains, he pushed Caesar's Range / Smokin' mad wools all day, with Caesar's change

2003 June 24, “Sabotage” (0:40 from the start), in The Ownerz, performed by Gang Starr:

Lopez said the shooter's name was Lou, known on the street as Wool Lou, because he sold "wools," which were cigarettes rolled up with crack cocaine.

2012, Chris Berdik, Mind Over Mind: The Surprising Power of Expectations, New York, N.Y.: Current, →ISBN, page 149:

(slang) A marijuana cigarette or cigar laced with crack cocaine.


coat

coat (countable and uncountable, plural coats)

Sranan Tongo: koto

→ Swahili: koti

(South Wales) Welsh: cot

(North Wales) Welsh: côt

From Middle English cote, coate, cotte, from Old French cote, cotte (“outer garment with sleeves”), from Latin cotta (“undercoat, tunic”), from Proto-Germanic *kuttô, *kuttǭ (“cowl, woolen cloth, coat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷewd-, *gud- (“woolen clothes”).
Cognate with Old High German kozza, kozzo (“woolen coat”) (German Kotze (“coarse woolen blanket; woolen cape”)), Middle Low German kot (“coat”), Middle Dutch cote (“coat”), Ancient Greek βεῦδος (beûdos, “woman's attire”).

cog

It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:

Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days.[…]Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

(countable, clothing) An outer garment covering the upper torso and arms.ᵂᵖ

pallto

(portata eksterdome, vintre aŭ ĝenerale en malvarma vetero) palto


shear

en-noun

shear (countable and uncountable, plural shears)

From Middle English sheren, scheren, from Old English sċieran (“to shear; to shave”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).
Cognate with West Frisian skarre, Low German scheren, Dutch scheren, German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian Bokmål skjære, Norwegian Nynorsk skjera, Swedish skära, Finnish keritä; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “I cut off”), Latin caro (“flesh”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear, cut”), harr (“to cut, to mow”), Lithuanian skìrti (“separate”), Welsh ysgar (“separate”). See also sharp.

inh

(metalworking) A large machine use for cutting sheet metal.


brush

en-noun

brush (countable and uncountable, plural brushes)

From Middle English brusshe, from Old French broisse (Modern French brosse), from Vulgar Latin *brustia, from Frankish *bursti, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz (“bristle”), or also Vulgar Latin *bruscia, from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz (“tuft, thicket, underbrush”), which could be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrusgo-.

der

An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair.

brush with death

He has had brushes with communism from time to time.

The usual visual grammar was in place – a carpet in the street, people in paddocks awaiting a brush with something glamorous, blokes with earpieces, birds in frocks of colliding colours that if sighted in nature would indicate the presence of poison.

2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems'”, in The Guardian:

A short and sometimes occasional encounter or experience.


brush

en-verb

brush (third-person singular simple present brushes, present participle brushing, simple past and past participle brushed)

brushes (present singular third-person)
brushing (participle present)
brushed (participle past)
brushed (past)

Her scarf brushed his skin.

Some spread their sails, some with strong oars sweep / The waters smooth, and brush the buxom wave.

1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:

Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings.

1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

Maybe you will find a love that you discover accidentally, who falls against you gently as a pickpocket brushes your thigh.

1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Further to Fly”, in The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.:

(transitive, intransitive) To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.


down

en-adj

down (comparative more down, superlative most down)

tlb

(chiefly predicative, but see usage notes)

more down (comparative)
most down (superlative)

From Middle English doun, from Old English dūne, aphetic form of adūne, from ofdūne (“off the hill”). For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare Middle Low German dāle (“(in/to the) valley”), i.e. "down(wards)".

noncog

a down cow

(veterinary medicine, of a cow) Stranded in a recumbent position; unable to stand.

We have a chopper down near the river.

(not comparable, military, aviation, slang, of an aircraft) Mechanically failed, collided, shot down, or otherwise suddenly unable to fly.


shed

en-verb

shed (third-person singular simple present sheds, present participle shedding, simple past and past participle shed or (nonstandard) shedded)

sheds (present singular third-person)
shedding (participle present)
shed (participle past)
shed (past)
shedded (nonstandard participle past)
shedded (nonstandard past)

From Middle English scheden, schede, from Old English scēadan, scādan (“to separate, divide, part, make a line of separation between; remove from association or companionship; distinguish, discriminate, decide, determine, appoint; shatter, shed; expound; decree; write down; differ”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþan, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþaną (compare West Frisian skiede, Dutch and German scheiden), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyt- (“to cut, part, divide, separate”), from *skey-.
See also Welsh chwydu (“to break open”), Lithuanian skėsti (“to spread”), skíesti (“to separate”), Old Church Slavonic цѣдити (cěditi, “to filter, strain”), Ancient Greek σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”), Old Armenian ցտեմ (cʻtem, “to scratch”), Sanskrit च्यति (cyáti, “he cuts off”)). Related to shoad, shit, sheath.

cog

You must shed your fear of the unknown before you can proceed.

When we found the snake, it was in the process of shedding its skin.

White oats are apt to shed most as they lie, and black as they stand.

1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:

She called on all the marathoners to go to Staten Island to help with the clean-up effort and to bring the clothes they would have shed at the start to shelters or other places where displaced people were in need.

2012 November 2, Ken Belson, New York Times, retrieved 2012-11-02:

(transitive, intransitive) To part with, separate from, leave off; cast off, let fall, be divested of.

afwerpen

to cast off, to let fall, be divested of

vedlik

hair, feathers, skin, etc., as an animal


shed

From Middle English sched, schede, schad, from a combination of Old English scēada (“a parting of the hair, top of the head”) and Old English ġesċēad (“distinction, reason”).

der

Coordinate term: barn

(nuclear physics) A unit of area equivalent to 10⁻⁵² square meters.


shed

→ Scottish Gaelic: seada

→ Welsh: sièd

Dialectal variant of a specialized use of shade.

Never saw that but we did stand and watch a pair of Sheds (156 and 165) speed north on a loaded steel.

2000 November 12, Bruce Garbutt, “Re: DRS to Cardiff (was Re: Tractor via Eddiestown)”, in uk.railway (Usenet):

(British, rail transport, informal) A British Rail Class 66 locomotive.


hold

en-verb

hold (third-person singular simple present holds, present participle holding, simple past held, past participle held or (archaic) holden)

holds (present singular third-person)
holding (participle present)
held (past)
held (participle past)
holden (archaic participle past)

Derived from Middle English holden, derived from Old English healdan, derived from Proto-West Germanic *haldan, derived from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to tend, herd”), maybe derived from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”).
cognates
*West Frisian hâlde
*Low German holden, holen
*Dutch houden
*German halten
*Danish
*Norwegian Bokmål holde
*Norwegian Nynorsk halda.
Compare Latin celer (“quick”), Tocharian B käl- (“to goad, drive”), Ancient Greek κέλλω (kéllō, “to drive”), Sanskrit कलयति (kalayati, “to impel”).

der+

hold with the hare and run with the hounds

one can't hold two watermelons in one hand

(tennis, transitive, intransitive) To win one's own service game.


hold

(aviation) A region of airspace reserved for aircraft being kept in a holding pattern.


comb

From Middle English comb, from Old English camb (“comb”), from Proto-West Germanic *kamb, from Proto-Germanic *kambaz (“comb”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“tooth”), a doublet of cam. The verb is derived from the noun and displaced the older verb kemb.
Cognates
Compare Saterland Frisian Koum, Swedish/Dutch kam, Norwegian kam, German Kamm); also Tocharian B keme, Lithuanian žam̃bas (“sharp edge”), Old Church Slavonic зѫбъ (zǫbŭ), Albanian dhëmb, Ancient Greek γομφίος (gomphíos, “backtooth, molar”), Sanskrit जम्भ (jambha)).

cog

There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;[…].

A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.

A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.

The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.

A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser.

A toothed implement:
The notched scale of a wire micrometer.

The collector of an electrical machine, usually resembling a comb.

A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis.

(weaving) A toothed wooden pick used to push the weft thread tightly against the previous pass of thread to create a tight weave.

One of a pair of peculiar organs on the base of the abdomen in scorpions, with which they comb substrate.

(music) The main body of a harmonica containing the air chambers and to which the reed plates are attached.

(algebraic geometry) A connected and reduced curve with irreducible components consisting of a smooth subcurve (called the handle) and one or more additional irreducible components (called teeth) that each intersect the handle in a single point that is unequal to the unique point of intersection for any of the other teeth.


comb

en-verb

comb (third-person singular simple present combs, present participle combing, simple past and past participle combed)

combs (present singular third-person)
combing (participle present)
combed (participle past)
combed (past)

I need to comb my hair before we leave the house.

(transitive, especially of hair or fur) To groom with a toothed implement, especially a comb.

kreh

to groom the hair with a toothed implement

Police combed the field for evidence after the assault.

(transitive) To search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb.

претърсвам

to search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb


beaver

en-noun

beaver (countable and uncountable, plural beavers)

The beards were false ones. I could see the elastic going over their ears. In other words, I had fallen among a band of criminals who were not wilful beavers, but had merely assumed the fungus for purposes of disguise.

(countable) A beard or a bearded person.

Referring to a beard.
A beard or a bearded person.

(uncountable, historical) A game, in which points are scored by spotting beards.

Finally it came on. It was a beauty, a beaver flick made in the late 1970s. It was called Big Black Leather Splits.

1969, Harlan Ellison, “A Boy and His Dog”, in The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, New York: Open Road Media, published 2014, →ISBN:

Between you and me, uh, she might have been fifteen, but when you get that little red beaver right up there in front of you, I don’t think it's crazy at all and I don’t think you do either.

1975, Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman, directed by Miloš Forman, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (motion picture), spoken by Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson):

Let’s get some of that Saturday night beaver.

1997, Paul Thomas Anderson, Boogie Nights (motion picture), spoken by Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly):

The store sold beaver books, fuck-suck books, homo books, novels, films, slides, playing cards, dildoes, cock rings, S&M gear, and French ticklers.

2004, James Ellroy, Destination: Morgue! L.A. Tales, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, pages 127–128:

[…] once she wore none at all, swears to this day that he saw her beaver that fateful Friday night.

2010, Dennis McFadden, Hart’s Grove: Stories:

(countable) Referring to the genital area or a woman.

(chiefly Canada, US) The pubic hair near a vulva or a vulva itself; (attributively) denoting films or literature featuring nude women.


do

en-verb

do (third-person singular simple present does, present participle doing, simple past did, past participle done)

does (present singular third-person)
doing (participle present)
did (past)
done (participle past)
do (infinitive)

Brittonicisms in English
Do
Do-support
Early Modern English

From Middle English don, from Old English dōn, from Proto-West Germanic *dōn, from Proto-Germanic *dōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do, make”).
For senses 4 and 5, compare Old Norse duga, whence Danish du.
The past tense form is from Middle English didde, dude, from Old English dyde, *diede, an unexpected development from Proto-Germanic *dedǭ/*dedē (the expected reflex would be *ded), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰédʰeh₁ti, an athematic e-reduplicated verb of the same root *dʰeh₁-.
The meaningless use of do in interrogative, negative, and affirmative sentences (e.g. "Do you like painting?" "Yes, I do"), existing in some form in most Germanic languages, is thought by some linguists to be one of the Brittonicisms in English, calqued from Brythonic. It is first recorded in Middle English, where it may have marked the perfective aspect, though in some cases the meaning seems to be imperfective. In Early Modern English, any meaning in such contexts was lost, making it a dummy auxiliary, and soon thereafter its use became mandatory in most questions and negations.
Doublets include deed, deem, and -dom, but not deal.
Other cognates include, via Latin, English feast, festival, fair (“celebration”), via Greek, English theo-, theme, thesis, and Sanskrit दधाति (dadhāti, “to put”), धातृ (dhātṛ, “creator”) and धातु (dhātu, “layer, element, root”).

der

not used in Dutch (translated by inversion)

est-ce que (or translated by inversion of the verb and subject)

tun

in colloquial speech, certain dialects, baby-language

ay

positioned at the beginning of a sentence

do unto others as you would have them do unto you

never put off until tomorrow what you can do today

the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing

the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must

those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it

what does that have to do with the price of corn

what does that have to do with the price of fish

what does that have to do with the price of tea in China

who are you and what have you done with someone

you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone

you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't

"Defender Kolo Toure admitted Given will be a loss, but gave his backing to Nielsen. 'I think he's done his shoulder,' said the Ivorian."

2010 April 24, “Given stretchered off with suspected broken shoulder”, in The Irish Times, retrieved 2015-07-21:

"Watto will spend the entire winter stretching and doing Pilates, and do a hamstring after bending down to pick up his petrol cap after dropping it filling his car at Caltex Cronulla."

2014 April 14, Matt Cleary, “What do Australia's cricketers do on holiday?”, in ESPNcricinfo, retrieved 2015-07-21:

"'I knew straight away I'd done my ACL, I heard the sound - it was very loud and a few of the boys said they heard it as well,' Otten said."

2014 August 13, Harry Thring, “I knew straight away I'd done my ACL: Otten”, in AFL.com.au, retrieved 2015-07-21:

(informal, transitive) To injure (one's own body part).


mustache

“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, “Zollenstein”, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 41:


shock

en-noun

shock (countable and uncountable, plural shocks)

→ Bulgarian: шок (šok)

→ Chinese: 休克 (xiūkè)

→ Czech: šok

→ Italian: shock

→ Japanese: ショック (shokku)

→ Korean: 쇼크 (syokeu)

→ Macedonian: шок (šok)

→ Polish: szok

→ Russian: шок (šok)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic: шо̏к

Latin: šȍk

→ Slovak: šok

→ Spanish: shock

From Middle Dutch schokken (“to push, jolt, shake, jerk”) or Middle French choquer (“to collide with, clash”), from Old Dutch *skokkan (“to shake up and down, shog”), from Proto-Germanic *skukkaną (“to move, shake, tremble”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to shake, stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kek-, *(s)keg- (“to shake, stir”); see shake.
Cognate with Middle Low German schocken (“collide with, deliver a blow to, move back and forth”), Old High German scoc (“a jolt, swing”), Middle High German schocken (“to swing”) (German schaukeln), Old Norse skykkr (“vibration, surging motion”), Icelandic skykkjun (“tremulously”), Middle English schiggen (“to shake”). Doublet of shog.

cog

shark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)

(medicine) Circulatory shock, a medical emergency characterized by the inability of the circulatory system to supply enough oxygen to meet tissue requirements.


beard

PIE word
 *bʰardʰéh₂
From Middle English berd, bard, bærd, from Old English beard, from Proto-West Germanic *bard, from Proto-Germanic *bardaz (compare West Frisian burd, Dutch baard, German Bart). Cognate further to Latin barba, Lithuanian barzda, Russian борода́ (borodá): the word may date to Proto-Indo-European as *bʰardʰeh₂, *bʰh₂erdʰeh₂. Doublet of barb.

Facial hair on the chin, cheeks, jaw and neck.


beard

en-verb

beard (third-person singular simple present beards, present participle bearding, simple past and past participle bearded)

beards (present singular third-person)
bearding (participle present)
bearded (participle past)
bearded (past)

Robin Hood is always shown as bearding the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Am I to be bearded in my own castle by an insolent monk?

1765, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto:

No admiral, bearded by these corrupt and dissolute minions of the palace, dared to do more than mutter something about a court martial.

1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

Murphy was a choleric man with a sense of his own importance. He was not to be bearded thus in his own seat of office. He rose with a very red face.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

We need all our operatives to insure the success of my plan to beard this Claus in his den...

1943 December 6, Crockett Johnson, Barnaby:

. . . I bearded the judge in his chambers and told him that it shouldn't be allowed.

1963, Ross Macdonald, The Chill, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, page 92:

(transitive) To boldly and bravely oppose or confront, often to the chagrin of the one being bearded.


lash

lash (third-person singular simple present lashes, present participle lashing, simple past and past participle lashed)

lashes (present singular third-person)
lashing (participle present)
lashed (participle past)
lashed (past)

From Middle English lashe, lasshe, lasche (“a stroke; the flexible end of a whip”), from Proto-Germanic *laskô (“flap of fabric, strap”).
Cognate with Dutch lasch, las (“a piece; seal; joint; notch; seam”), German Low German Laske, Lask (“a flap; dag; strap”), German Lasche (“a flap; joint; strap; tongue; scarf”), Swedish lask (“scarf”), Icelandic laski (“the bottom part of a glove”).

cog

He falls, and lashing up his heels, his rider throws.

1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

(transitive) To throw out with a jerk or quickly.

In the final minute of six added on, Colombia would undo their good work, though, Pérez fumbling the ball allowing Hemp to lash into the empty net.

2023 August 12, Suzanne Wrack, “England hit back to beat Colombia and set up World Cup semi with Australia”, in The Guardian:

(intransitive) To strike vigorously; to let fly.

Used in phrasal verbs: lash back, lash out.


lash

en-adj

lash (comparative more lash, superlative most lash)

more lash (comparative)
most lash (superlative)

We’re off school tomorrow, it’s gonna be lash!

That Chinese (food) was lash!


put up

en-verb

put up (third-person singular simple present puts up, present participle putting up, simple past and past participle put up)

puts up (present singular third-person)
putting up (participle present)
put up (participle past)
put up (past)

(transitive) To style (the hair) up on the head, instead of letting it hang down.

Be sure to put up the tools when you finish.

“As for your money,” replied Partridge, “I beg, sir, you will put it up; I will receive none of you at this time; for at present I am, I believe, the richer man of the two. […]

1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII:

Butty Sugrue put up £300,000 for the Ali–Lewis fight.

This is why I can guarantee to start drilling and to put up the cash to back my word.

2007 September 27, Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood, spoken by Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), distributed by Paramount Vantage & Miramax Films:

(transitive) To provide funds in advance.

(transitive, printing, historical) To set (matter) in capital letters; to switch text from lowercase to capital letters.


natural

/ˈnæt͡ʃ(ə)ɹəl/

From Middle English natural, borrowed from Old French natural, naturel, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, the perfect participle of nāscor (“be born”, verb). Displaced native Old English ġecynde. By surface analysis, nature + -al.

Chinosole, who stopped straightening her hair and cut it into a natural while at a predominantly white college, was quite uneasy with the style

2002, Maxine Leeds Craig, Ain't I a Beauty Queen?: Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

I wanted to do it for so long — throw out my chemically relaxed hair for a natural.

2012, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the African American Soul: Celebrating and Sharing Our Culture One Story at a Time, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

Third, it insinuates that black afro hairstyles (e.g., naturals) relate to African cultural heritage, which is largely untrue.

2015, Carmen M. Cusack, HAIR AND JUSTICE: Sociolegal Significance of Hair in Criminal Justice, Constitutional Law, and Public Policy, Charles C Thomas Publisher, →ISBN, page 155:

(US, colloquial) A hairstyle for people with Afro-textured hair in which the hair is not straightened or otherwise treated.


dag

From Middle English dagge, of uncertain (probably Germanic) origin, cognate with (Middle) Dutch dag, dagge, dagh. The sense "dangling lock of wool, matted with dung" (originally from the dialect of Kent) is also termed "daglock" (derived from the "hanging end" sense of "dag") or "daggle-lock" and some sources consider the sense a shortening of that longer word rather than a mere evolution of the "hanging end" sense.

A hanging end or shred, in particular a long pointed strip of cloth at the edge of a piece of clothing, or one of a row of decorative strips of cloth that may ornament a tent, booth or fairground.


dag

Perhaps a back-formation from daggy, or, a specialised sense of British dialect dag, a daring feat amongst boys.

(Australia slang, New Zealand, obsolete) An odd or eccentric person; someone who is a bit strange but amusingly so.


dag

Abbreviations
* Initialism of directed acyclic graph.
* Clipping of dagwood.

partial ordering relation
partial ordering relation

(graph theory) A directed acyclic graph; an ordered pair (V,E) such that E is a subset of some partial ordering relation on V.


dag

Mickey: Dags! D' ya like dags?

2000, Guy Ritchie, Snatch, quoted in, Miguel Á. Bernal-Merino, Translation and Localisation in Video Games: Making Entertainment Software Global, Routledge →ISBN, page 68

There it was again, that old Gaelic verb pronounced 'scriss,' that those involved in fighting talk apparently exuded on occasion. It could have been 'D'ya wanna buy a dag?' it was all the same.

2014, John P Brady, Back to the Gaff, Roadside Fiction, →ISBN, page 131:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(chiefly Ireland) Pronunciation spelling of dog.


hairnet

From hair + net. Compare Dutch haarnetje, German Haarnetz, Danish hårnet, Swedish hårnät.

A net designed to keep hair up and out of the way, e.g. while cooking.


switch

→ Gulf Arabic: سويچ (swīč)

→ German: Switch

Perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch (“twig”), first attested in c. 1592. The mechanical device for altering the direction of something sense is first attested in c. 1797, pertaining to pivoted rails on minecart railways, which were once wooden.

камута́тар

system allowing the interconnection of telephone lines

(firearms, slang) Synonym of Glock switch.

(slang, metonymically) A Glock pistol equipped with a Glock switch.


bald

en-adj

bald (comparative balder, superlative baldest)

balder (comparative)
baldest (superlative)

From Middle English balled, ballid, bald (“bald”), of uncertain origin. Probably formed from Middle English bal, balle (“ball, round object, knoll, head”). Compare with Old Danish bældet (“bald”).
Alternate etymology has Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌰- (bala-, “shining, grey (of body)”), Old English bǣl (“fire, flame; funeral pyre”) (both from Proto-Germanic *bēlą), Albanian balë (“white spot on the forehead”) and ballë (“forehead”).

cog

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces.

1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

Porn didn't revolutionize our pubic hair overnight […] but the general gist is that the vast majority of porn performers in film and magazines had full bushes until Hustler magazine printed a bald vulva, a so-called ‘pink shot’, in 1974.

2019, Lynn Enright, Vagina: A Re-Education, Atlantic Books, →ISBN:

Having little or no hair, fur, or feathers.

a bald man with a moustache

There has never been a bald James Bond nor a hairless contestant on Love Island. Growing up, bald men were never the superheroes and always the villains.

2021 March 14, Michael Segalov, “It can leave your self-image fractured”, in The Guardian:

(specifically) Having little or no hair on the head, or having a large area of bare scalp on top of the head.


bald

(Appalachia) A mountain summit or crest that lacks forest growth despite a warm climate conducive to such, as is found in many places in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.


bald

en-verb

bald (third-person singular simple present balds, present participle balding, simple past and past participle balded)

balds (present singular third-person)
balding (participle present)
balded (participle past)
balded (past)


bang

From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”).
In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off.
In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.

gl

"to hammer"; whence modern Swedish <i class="Latn mention" lang="sv">banka</i> (“to knock, pound, bang”)

Audio (US)

Tiffany has long hair and bangs.

his hair cut in front like a young lady's bang

1880, William Dean Howells, The Undiscovered Country:

She was not much to look at. Her red hair hung in an uncurled bang over her forehead

1902, Barbara Baynton, Squeaker's Mate; reprinted in Carmel Bird, editor, The Penguin Century of Australian Stories, 2000, →ISBN:

(US, archaic) Synonym of bangs: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle with such hair cut straight across.


beehive

From Middle English beehyve, equivalent to bee + hive.

An enclosed structure in which some species of honey bees (genus Apis) live and raise their young.

A women's hairstyle, popular in the 1960s, in which long hair is styled into a hive-shaped form on top of the head and usually held in place with lacquer.

Brian Small said that the Minister could not 'hide in the beehive any longer'

2004, Nicholas Tarling, International Students in New Zealand, →ISBN, page 114:

In New Zealand, this approach is taken one step forward in that Ministers physically sit together up in the beehive, as their building is known, rather than being based in the Departments.

2010, David Halpern, The Hidden Wealth of Nations, →ISBN, page 216:

As with other major buildings the beehive demonstrated the need for a standardized building drawing practice which could be applied — and understood

1977, New Zealand Libraries - Volumes 40-42, →ISBN, page 30:

(nonstandard, New Zealand) Alternative form of Beehive

By the way, what happens to a beehive which is under attack by one or two gliders such as pictured:

1989 December 22, Norbert Roestel, “CA-LETTER”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Alternatively, in many cases the debris can be suppressed by perturbing the debris with a passing spaceship before it stabilizes into the beehive or loaf.

1992 October 22, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 6a)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Unfortunately, a beehive (a common six cell still life) was also created close to the block, and its position made it impossible to eliminate with conventional methods using still lifes (anything placed to destroy it would be damaged by earlier activity).

1996 November 16, Paul Callahan, “Still-life glider reflector found”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) In Conway's Game of Life, a particular still life pattern with a rounded appearance.


alopecia

en-noun

alopecia (countable and uncountable, plural alopecias)

/ˌæl.əʊˈpiː.ʃə/

Borrowed from Latin alopecia, from the Ancient Greek ἀλωπεκία (alōpekía, “fox-mange”), from ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx, “fox”) + -ία (-ía, a formative ending used in Ancient Greek, especially used in naming diseases).

af

(pathology) Deficiency of the hair, which may be caused by failure to grow or loss after growth.

“Jada, can’t wait for GI Jane 2,” Rock said in an apparent reference to her shaved hair, which is a result of the hair loss condition alopecia.

2022 March 28, Nadia Khomami, “‘Violence instead of words’: Will Smith condemned for hitting Chris Rock at the Oscars”, in The Guardian:

(medicine) Loss of hair (especially on the head) or loss of wool or feathers, whether natural or caused by disease.


barber

→ Indonesian: barber

→ Polish: barber

PIE word
 *bʰardʰéh₂
From Middle English barbour, from Anglo-Norman barbour, from Old French barbeor, from barbe (“beard”), from Latin barba.

never ask the barber if you need a haircut

There's also a barber's shop and that staple of railway stations up and down the UK - a WH Smith.

2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: the nation's finest stations: Eastbourne”, in RAIL, number 948, page 27:

A person whose profession is cutting the hair and beards of usually male customers.

berber

person whose profession is cutting (usually male) customers' hair and beards


ginger

en-noun

ginger (countable and uncountable, plural gingers)

→ Greek: τζίντζερ (tzíntzer)

→ Japanese: ジンジャー (jinjā)

→ Maltese: ġinġer

→ Manx: jinshar

→ Welsh: sinsir

→ Zulu: újínja

Inherited from Middle English gingere, alteration of gingivere, from Old English gingifer, gingiber (influenced by Old French gingembre), from Medieval Latin gingiber, zingiber, from Latin zingiberi, from Late Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀲𑀺𑀁𑀕𑀺𑀯𑁂𑀭 (siṃgivera), ultimately from Dravidian, compare Old Tamil 𑀇𑀜𑁆𑀘𑀺𑀯𑁂𑀭𑁆 (iñcivēr) and Tamil இஞ்சிவேர் (iñcivēr) from இஞ்சி (iñci, “ginger”) + வேர் (vēr, “root”).

/ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚ/

(colloquial, often derogatory, countable) A person with reddish hair; a redhead.

Can you buy dry ginger in Croatia? If not what is an alternative?

(colloquial, countable and uncountable) Ginger ale, or can or bottle of such (especially if dry).


hirsute

en-adj

hirsute (comparative more hirsute, superlative most hirsute)

more hirsute (comparative)
most hirsute (superlative)

A third eminent cause of iealousie may be this, when hee that is deformed hirsute and ragged, and very vertuously giuen, will marry some very faire niec piece, or some light huswife, he begins to misdoubt (as well he may) she doth not affect him.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], chapter 3, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 1, member 2, page 674:

[…] there are of Roots, Bulbous Roots, Fibrous Roots, and Hirsute Roots.

1631, Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, page 157:

Juan, I said, was a most beauteous Boy,
And had retained his boyish look beyond
The usual hirsute seasons which destroy,
With beards and whiskers and the like, the fond
Parisian aspect […]

1823 August 29, [Lord Byron], Don Juan. Cantos IX.—X.—and XI., London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John Hunt, […], →OCLC, canto IX, stanza 53, page 31:

At that period, too, the Jew's long beard was far more distinctive than it is in this hirsute generation.

1851, Henry Mayhew, “Of the Jew Old-clothes Men”, in London Labour and the London Poor; […], volume II (The London Street-folk. Book the Second.), London: [Griffin, Bohn, and Company], →OCLC, page 129, column 2:

Despite occasional hirsute rebellions by Cavaliers in the seventeenth century and hippies in the twentieth, the shaggy, long-haired male has remained a rarity […]

2008, Desmond Morris, chapter 2, in The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body, London: Vintage, page 30:


rex

From the Latin rēx (“king”), referring originally to rabbits of the Belgian "castorrex" breed, so named because their fur was similar to that of beavers. Entered English around 1920. Doublet of rajah and roy.

An animal which has a genetic recessive variation that causes the guard hairs to be very short or fully lacking.


Mohawk

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Mohawk.wav

From Dutch Mohawk.
An exonym, probably from Narragansett Mohowaúgsuck, Mauquàuog, meaning “they eat (animate things)”, “cannibals”. The phoneme /m/ is not present in the Mohawk language; the Mohawk autonym is Kanien'kehá:ka (Kanienkehaka, Kanyenkehaka).

Mohawk River, the largest tributary of the Hudson River, New York.


lock

Tok Pisin: lok

→ Hawaiian: laka

From Middle English lok, from Old English loc, from Proto-West Germanic *lok, from Proto-Germanic *luką from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (“to bend; turn”). The verb is from Middle English locken, lokken, louken, from Old English lūcan, Proto-West Germanic *lūkan, from Proto-Germanic *lūkaną. Related to luxe via Latin.


pineapple

en-noun

pineapple (countable and uncountable, plural pineapples)

Pineapple Primary
en:pineapple
en:pineapple (disambiguation)

→ Japanese: パイナップル
→ Yami: pinapo

→ Welsh: pinafal, afal pin

→ Cornish: pinaval

→ Ojibwe: zhingwaako-mishiimin (calque)

From Middle English pinappel (“pinecone”, literally “pine-apple/pine-fruit”). Later applied to the fruit of the pineapple plant due to its resemblance to a pinecone. Compare the Middle Dutch and Dutch pĳnappel, the Middle Low German pinappel, the Old High German pīnapful, the Middle High German pīnaphel, and the early Modern German pinapfel — all in the sense of “pine cone”. Compare also the post-Classical Latin pomum pini, the Old French pume de pin, the Middle French and French pomme de pin and Spanish piña. By surface analysis, pine + apple.

inh

pineapple strawberry Fragaria × ananassa)

A hairstyle consisting of a ponytail worn on top of the head, imitating the leaves of a pineapple.


mane

From Middle English mane, mayne, from Old English manu (“mane”), from Proto-West Germanic *manu, from Proto-Germanic *manō (“mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *mony-, *mon- (“neck”). Cognate with Dutch maan, manen (“mane”), German Mähne (“mane”), Danish man (“horse's mane”), Swedish man (“horse's mane”), Icelandic mön (“mane”).

Part of a naval sword between the tang button and the quillon.


da

From child language; compare dad and dada.

Oh where is yer da son? The man said it to me and was grumpy. Is yer da here?

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, page 55:

Once the silky gent who ran a barge called the Knuckle Sandwich tried to persuade Borglum's ma and da to sell him their little dwarfish boy for twelve gold coins.

2011, Philip Reeve, Scrivener's Moon, Scholastic, →ISBN, page 48:

(Ireland, Scotland, Northern England) Father.


da

(slang, Russian) Yes; an affirmative response.


da

Representing pronunciation of the in informal speech.

Da New York Times

Da Bears

"So I catch you. You stealer! Ho! Ho!" He seized the girl's wrist. "No, no, you don't run. Hey! Where is-a da cop?"

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 11:

They are both holding onto their caps in the stiff breeze, and Zang is shouting, "Where is da main hotel going to be?"

2012, Jeffrey Arnold, Nobody's Laughing, page 157:


crimp

From Middle English crimpen (“to be contracted, be drawn together”), from Middle Dutch crimpen, crempen (“to crimp”), from Proto-Germanic *krimpaną (“to shrink, draw back”) (compare related Old English ġecrympan (“to curl”)). Cognate with Dutch krimpen, German Low German krimpen, Faroese kreppa (“crisis”), and Icelandic kreppa (“to bend tightly, clench”). Compare also derivative Middle English crymplen (“to wrinkle”) and causative crempen (“to turn something back, restrain”, literally “to cause to shrink or draw back”), both ultimately derived from the same root. See also cramp.

cog

(usually in the plural) Hair that is shaped so it bends back and forth in many short kinks.


moustache

Used in English since the 16th century. Via Middle French moustache from Italian mostaccio, from Early Medieval Latin mustācium, from Byzantine Greek μουστάκιον (moustákion), diminutive of (Doric) Ancient Greek μύσταξ (mústax, “upper lip”), of unknown origin (probably a Pre-Greek substrate). Replaced native English kemp (“moustache”), from Old English cenep.

der

A moment later there entered a tall thin Englishman with a great moustache, which was a rare thing amid that clean-shaven race.

1903, Arthur Conan Doyle, “How the Brigadier Triumphed in England”, in The Adventures of Gerard:

“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

A hint of the truth broke on him after Sedan, when he saw the dyed moustaches of Napoleon going grey; another when he entered Paris, and saw the smashed windows of the Tuileries.

1908–1910, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, Howards End, New York, N.Y., London: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons […], published 1910, →OCLC:

Ivan, the confidential man with the scar and the moustaches, came out of the house like a cannon ball, and came racing across the lawn to Valentin like a dog to his master.

1910 September 3, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Secret Garden”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, London, New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, published 1911, →OCLC:

Small, well-knit, fair, he sat stroking his slight blond moustache and looking at her with kindly, almost tender eyes; but he left it to his sister and the others to draw her out and fit her into the pattern.

1913 October, Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:

Crabbe caught the eye of the oboist, an ancient man with dignified moustaches, and mimed that they were going round to the front, to watch the real thing, the shadows.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 555:

A growth of facial hair between the nose and the upper lip.

In this example, the first is a string of text that contains the name property in double curly brackets (or “mustaches”)—this is the syntax for a tag.

2013, Peter Gasston, The Modern Web: Multi-device Web Development with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, No Starch Press, →ISBN, page 102:

(computing, informal) A curly bracket, { or }.


Mohican

From their self-designation in Mahican [Term?] (literally “people of the estuary”).

bor

(British) A hairstyle where both sides are shaved, with the hair in the centre kept long and made to stand on end.


root

From Middle English wrōten (“to dig with the snout”), from Old English wrōtan, from Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną (“to dig out, to root”). Related to Old English wrōt (“snout; trunk”). Loss of initial w- probably due to influence from the related noun (Etymology 1).

inh

(Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) A sexual partner.


trichotillomania

From Ancient Greek θρίξ (thríx, “hair”) (genitive: τριχός (trikhós)) + τίλλω (tíllō, “I pull out, pluck”) + μανία (manía, “madness”).

A medical disorder where someone compulsively pulls their own hair out.

trichomania

mania for hair or hairiness; not to be confused

trichophilia

paraphilic attraction to hair or hairiness; hair-fetishism


bob haircut

A women's haircut in which both the bangs and back are cut in a straight line, with the back generally off the neck.


redhead

I like redheads. Their mouths are like a drop of strawberry jam in a glass of milk.

2007, Matthew Weiner, “Red in the Face”, in Mad Men, season 1, episode 7, spoken by Roger Sterling:


imperial

en-adj

imperial (comparative more imperial, superlative most imperial)

more imperial (comparative)
most imperial (superlative)

From Middle English imperial, from Old French imperial, from Latin imperiālis (“of the empire or emperor, imperial”), from imperium (“empire, imperial government”) + -ālis, from imperō (“command, order”), from im- (“form of in”) + parō (“prepare, arrange; intend”). Displaced Old English cāserlīċ.

der

Imperial pale ale, Imperial IPA, Imperial pilsner, Imperial milk stout, Imperial lager, Imperial mead

(in particular, of alcohol) Stronger than typical. (Derived from the name of Russian Imperial stout, a strong dark beer.)


imperial

en-noun

imperial (countable and uncountable, plural imperials)

A bottle of wine (usually Bordeaux) containing 6 liters of fluid, eight times the volume of a standard bottle.

(paper, printing) A writing paper size measuring 30 × 22 inches, or printing paper measuring 32 × 22 inches.

There are who say the sonnet's meted maze
Is all too fettered for the poet's powers,
Compelled to crowd his flush and airy flowers
Like pots of tall imperials, ill at ease.

1816, John Freeman Milward Dovaston, The Sonnet:


bob

From Middle English bobbe (“a cluster (of fruit); a twig with its leaves, a spray”).


queue

From Middle English queue, quew, qwew, couwe, from Anglo-Norman queue, keu and Old French cöe, cue, coe (“tail”), from Vulgar Latin cōda, from Latin cauda. See also Middle French queu, cueue. Doublet of coda.

[…], there were seated astraddle the whole hundred of the baronet's musqueteers, each engaged in plaiting into a queue the hair of the man who sat in front of him.

1889, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, chapter XIX, in Micah Clarke: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co […], →OCLC:

A large number of loyal officials, rather than shave the front part of the head and wear the Manchu queue, voluntarily shaved the whole head, […]

1912, Herbert Allen Giles, China and the Manchus, Chapter III — Shun Chih

Caparisoned for a week in purple velvet knee-length pantaloons, a red silk jacket with buckles of shiny brass, and a white goat's-hair wig which culminated behind in a saucy queue, I must have presented an exotic sight […]

1967, William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Vintage, published 2004, page 176:

(now historical) A men's hairstyle with a braid or ponytail at the back of the head, such as that worn by men in Imperial China.


carpet

en-noun

carpet (countable and uncountable, plural carpets)

→ Japanese: カーペット (kāpetto)

From late Middle English carpette, from Old French carpite, from Medieval Latin carpita/Italian carpita, introduced in the 13th century by the Florentines from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, from Middle Armenian կարպետ (karpet, “carpet, rug”), earlier կապերտ (kapert).


haircut

The act of cutting of the hair, often done professionally by a barber, hair stylist, or beautician.


bun

From Middle English bunne (“wheat cake, bun”), from Anglo-Norman bugne (“bump on the head; fritter”), from Old French bugne (hence French beignet), from Frankish *bungjo (“little clump”), diminutive of *bungu (“lump, clump”), from Proto-Germanic *bungô, *bunkô (“clump, lump, heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognate with Dutch bonk (“clump, clot, cluster of fruits”). More at bunch.

bolletjie

a small bread roll, often sweetened or spiced

couldn't organise a bun fight in a bakery

Coordinate term: cake

A small bread roll that is sweetened or spiced.

A bread roll that is served with a savoury filling such as a hamburger or hot dog.

Coordinate term: cake

(Northern England, especially Northumbria) Any bread roll.

Senses referring to baked goods.
Any bread roll.

Coordinate term: cake

Senses referring to baked goods.
(Northern England, Ireland) A cupcake.

Senses referring to baked goods.
A cupcake.

nice buns;   tight buns

(Canada, US, slang, chiefly in the plural) A buttock.


fleece

en-noun

fleece (countable and uncountable, plural fleeces)

From Middle English flees, flese, flus, fleos, from Old English flēos, flīes, flȳs, from Proto-West Germanic *fleus.

The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine.


dreads

Abbreviation of dreadlocks. Sense of “Rastafarian person” by synecdoche.


bowl

Bislama: bol

→ Esperanto: bovlo

desctree

→ French: bol
→ Catalan: bol
→ Greek: μπολ (bol)

→ German: Bowle, → Bowl

→ Hungarian: bólé

→ Ido: bolo

→ Irish: bolla

→ Japanese: ボール (bōru)

→ Latvian: bole (probably via German)

→ Korean: 볼 (bol)

→ Scottish Gaelic: bòl

→ Swedish: bål

From Middle English bolle, from Old English bolla, bolle (“bowl, cup, pot, beaker, measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bollā, from Proto-Germanic *bullǭ (“ball, round vessel, bowl”).
Cognate with North Frisian bol (“bun, bread roll”), Middle Low German bolle, bole (“round object”), Dutch bol (“ball, sphere, scoop, dot”), German Bolle (“bulb”), Danish bolle (“bowl, bread roll”), Icelandic bolli (“cup”). Doublet of boule and pulla.

inh

A haircut in which straight hair is cut at an even height around the edges, forming a bowl shape.

(geography) A round crater (or similar) in the ground.

(American football) A postseason football competition, a bowl game (i.e. Rose Bowl, Super Bowl)


bowl

From Middle English bowle, boule, from Old French boule (“ball”), from Latin bulla (“bubble, stud, round object”). Doublet of poll.

der

(bowls) The ball rolled by players in the game of lawn bowls.


locks

Alternative forms: 'locs, locs


crop

From Middle English crop, croppe, from Old English crop, cropp, croppa (“the head or top of a plant, a sprout or herb, a bunch or cluster of flowers, an ear of corn, the craw of a bird, a kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic *kropp, from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“body, trunk, crop”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to warp, bend, crawl”).
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch krop (“crop”), German Low German Kropp (“a swelling on the neck, the craw, maw”), German Kropf (“the craw, ear of grain, head of lettuce or cabbage”), Swedish kropp (“body, trunk”), Icelandic kroppur (“a hunch on the body”). Related to crap, doublet of group and croup.

cog

She went from a ponytail to a crop.

Eton crop

From an inner pocket he produces a costly Ramillies Wig, shakes it out in a brisk Cloud of scented Litharge, and claps it on, with a minimum of fuss, over his ascetic’s Crop.

1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part One: Latitudes and Departures, page 227:

Coordinate term: gizzard

A little bird sat on the edge of her nest;
Her yellow-beaks slept as sound as tops;
That day she had done her very best,
And had filled every one of their little crops.

1871, George MacDonald, “The Early Bird”, in At the Back of the North Wind:

The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass along its gullet and down into its crop.

1892 [January], A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. VII.—The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume III (January to June), number [13], London: George Newnes, Limited, […], page 84, column 2:

As the wildebeest shrinks, the circle of sated birds lounging in the short grass expands. With bulging crops, the vultures settle their heads atop folded wings and slide their nictitating membranes shut.

2015 December, Elizabeth Royte, “Vultures Are Revolting. Here’s Why We Need to Save Them.”, in National Geographic, archived from the original on 2015-12-13:

(anatomy) A pouch-like part of the alimentary tract of some birds (and some other animals), used to store food before digestion or for regurgitation.

حَوْصَلة

part of bird's or other animal's alimentary tract


conk

en-verb

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

conks (present singular third-person)
conking (participle present)
conked (participle past)
conked (past)

From congolene, the brand name of a hair-straightening product.

The barbecue cook, wearing a dirty white apron, his conked hair reddish and metallic in the pale sun, and a cigarette between his lips, stood in the doorway, watching them.

1957, James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”, in Going to Meet the Man, Dial, published 1965:

(US, dated) To chemically straighten tightly curled hair.

kiegyenesít

to chemically straighten tightly curled hair


royal

en-adj

royal (comparative royaler or royaller, superlative royalest or royallest)

royaler (comparative)
royaller (comparative)
royalest (superlative)
royallest (superlative)

From Middle English royal, from Old French roial (Modern French royal), from Latin rēgālis, from rēx (“king”). Doublet of regal (“befitting a king”), real (“unit of currency”), ariary, and riyal. Cognate with Spanish real. Displaced native Old English cynelīċ.

mbretëror

of or relating to a monarch or his family

royal mast;  royal sail

(nautical) In large sailing ships, of a mast right above the topgallant mast and its sails.

röijeli-

nautical: of a mast right above the topgallant mast and its sails


royal

(paper) A standard size of writing paper, measuring 24 by 19 inches.

in ten days after we spoke the Solon, so rapid was his recovery, that, from lying helpless and almost hopeless in his berth, he was at the mast-heId, furling a royal.

1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., “CHAPTER XXXV”, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC:

(nautical, sailing) In large sailing ships, square sail over the topgallant sail.

(card games) In auction bridge, a royal spade.


dreadlocks

en-noun

dreadlocks pl (normally plural, singular dreadlock)

Bob Marley
University of the West Indies Press

Borrowed from Jamaican Creole dreadlocks, from dread (“of or relating to a dread”, adjective) (from dread (“(usually black) male member of the Rastafarian movement who wears his hair in dreadlocks”, noun), from English dread (“reverential or respectful fear; awe”), referring to the awe inspired by God) + English locks (plural of lock (“length or tuft of hair”)). The English word is analysable as dread (“Rastafarian”, attributive) + locks.

compound

The patient history may point to the use of tight hairstyles that put tension on the hair root or hair treatments that increase the vulnerability to traction-related damage. The physician should evaluate for a history of tight ponytails, buns, chignons, braids, twists, weaves, cornrows, dreadlocks, sisterlocks, and hair wefts in addition to the usage of religious hair coverings.

2021, Oma N. Agbai, Jodie Raffi, “Hair Loss in Women of Color”, in Becky S. Li, Howard I. Maibach, editors, Ethnic Skin and Hair and Other Cultural Considerations (Updates in Clinical Dermatology), Cham, Zug, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 154, column 2:

A hairstyle worn by Rastafarians and others in which the hair is left to grow long, and twisted into matted strings.

rastalokke

hairstyle in which the hair is left to grow long, and twisted into long matted strings


fax

→ Japanese: ファックス

Clipping of facsimile, first attested 1979.

OK, now take it down the hall to the fax.

You can send it via email or fax. You can use an online fax service where you upload a PDF and then send it to a fax number.

Ellipsis of fax machine: the device for faxing; the medium of communication that it provides.


plait

From Middle English pleit, from Anglo-Norman pleit (compare Old French ploit), from Latin plectō, which is akin to Old Norse flétta (Danish flette), Russian плести́ (plestí) and also to Old English fleohtan, which it displaced. Doublet of plight (“plait, fold”) and pleat.

doublet

a box plait

the plaits and foldings of the drapery

1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

A flat fold; a doubling, as of cloth; a pleat.

Only the hair as it arched so beautifully from her temples was mixed with silver, and the two simple plaits that lay on her shoulders were filigree of silver and brown.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:


plait

en-verb

plait (third-person singular simple present plaits, present participle plaiting, simple past and past participle plaited)

plaits (present singular third-person)
plaiting (participle present)
plaited (participle past)
plaited (past)

to plait hair

plaiting rope

Her abundant hair, of a dark and glossy brown, was neatly plaited and coiled above an ivory column that rose straight from a pair of gently sloping shoulders, clearly outlined beneath the light muslin frock that covered them.

1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars:

(transitive) To interweave the strands or locks of; to braid


dread

en-adj

dread (comparative dreader, superlative dreadest)

dreader (comparative)
dreadest (superlative)

From Middle English drede, dredde, dradde, ydreddyd (“feared, dreaded, honoured”), past participle of Middle English dreden (“to fear, dread”). See above.

der

The acts made in the first Parliament of our most high and dread soveraigne Charles [I], by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. […] [book title]

1633, John Hay, editor, The Acts Made in the First Parliament of our Most High and Dread Soveraigne Charles, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.: Holden by Himselfe, Present in Person, with His Three Estates, at Edinburgh, upon the Twentie Eight Day of Iune, Anno Domini 1633, Edinburgh: Printed by Robert Young, printer to the Kings most excellent Maiestie, →OCLC:

(archaic) Awe-inspiring; held in fearful awe.


fade

From Middle English fade, vad, vade (“faded, pale, withered, weak”), from Middle Dutch vade (“weak, faint, limp”), from Old French fade (“weak, witless”), of obscure origin. Probably from Vulgar Latin *fatidus, from Latin fatuus (“insipid”).

A haircut where the hair is short or shaved on the sides of the head and longer on top. See also high-top fade and low fade.


goatee

From goat + -ee (diminutive suffix), referring to the tuft of hair on the chin of many domestic goats.

Coordinate term: soul patch

One person sports a goatee, the hair refusing to grow on the sides of his physiognomy; the chin of another is as smooth as a baby's cheek,—he contents himself with a modest moustache and a faint attempt at an imperial; while a few of the upper classes rejoice in all the varieties.

1845 February, “Editors' Table”, in The Williams Monthly Miscellany, volume 1, number 8, page 367:

The terrorist, as he called himself, was old and bald, with a narrow, snow-white wisp of a goatee hanging limply from his chin.

1906 January–October, Joseph Conrad, chapter III, in The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, London: Methuen & Co., […], published 1907, →OCLC; The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Collection of British Authors; 3995), copyright edition, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1907, →OCLC, page 44:

"Yes, sir, behind you. He is a man of middle size, rather inclined to shortness. He is old, over sixty, with white hair, curved nose and a white, small beard of the variety that is called goatee."

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

A beard trimmed to grow only at the center of the chin.


nappy

Probably shortened from napkin (but possibly a corruption of French nappe, since napkin is already a diminutive) + -y (diminutive ending).

The baby did a poo in her nappy.

You will notice that disposable nappies are sold in boy and girl versions. They vary in where the thickest padding is provided.

1995, Jennie Lindon, Lance Lindon, Leandra Negrini, Caring for Young Children, page 60:

Other equipment required was soap for hand washing and washing of nappies, a washing line for the drying of nappies,[…].

2005, Medical Association of Malawi, “Malawi Medical Journal: The Journal of Medical Association of Malawi”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 17, page 39:

You could burn disposable nappies (not a very practical option); otherwise, it′s probably best to take a supply of large plastic bags or nappy sacks with you and to dispose of them as thoughtfully as you can.

2008, Isabelle Young, Healthy Travel: Asia & India, 2nd edition, Lonely Planet, page 275:

In response we mailed hundreds of nappies to students in halls. On the nappy was a simple message, IT'S A LOT EASIER TO PUT ON A CONDOM.

2009, Chris Arnold, Ethical Marketing and The New Consumer, page 55:

(British, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand) An absorbent garment worn by a baby or toddler who does not yet have voluntary control of their bladder and bowels or by someone who is incontinent; a diaper.


nappy

en-adj

nappy (comparative nappier, superlative nappiest)

nappier (comparative)
nappiest (superlative)

1950, US District Courts, US Court of Claims, US Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Federal Supplement, Volume 89, page 438,
The original accused device, as was the patented device, was made of cotton flannel with a nappy surface on each side, […] .

Having a nap (of cloth etc.); downy; shaggy.

They could scarcely bear their knowledge, nor could they have borne the sight of Rufus, but they knew why he was in the streets tonight, why he rode subways all night long, why his stomach growled, why his hair was nappy, his armpits funky, his pants and shoes too thin, and why he did not dare to stop and take a leak.

1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published 1963 January, page 4:

We would talk about each other′s ugly, big lips and flat noses. We would call each other pickaninnies and nappy-haired so-and-so′s.

1987, Assata Shakur, Assata: An Autobiography, page 30:

For example, some Black people′s corporeal zones include nappy hair texture, wide noses, thick lips, and darker-than-white skin complexion, all of which come into play when an individual is interacting with a cultural “Other.”

2006, Ronald L. Jackson II, Scripting the Black Masculine Body, page 52:

She had decided to just cover her hair with a scarf because Aunt Bell was “old school” and Zollar did not want to have to explain why she had nappy hair.

2010, Nadine George-Graves, Urban Bush Women: Twenty Years of African American Dance Theater, Community Engagement, and Working It Out, page 50:

(US, informal, sometimes offensive) Of hair: tightly curled or twisted; frizzy (often specifically in reference to Afro textured hair)


fur

en-noun

fur (countable and uncountable, plural furs)

From Middle English furre, forre, from Anglo-Norman forre, fuerre (“a case; sheath”), from Frankish *fōdar, from Proto-West Germanic *fōdr, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (“sheath”) (compare Old English fōdor (“sheaf”), Dutch voering (“lining”), German Futter (“lining”), Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌳𐍂 (fōdr, “sheath”)), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-, *poh₂- (“to protect”) (compare Lithuanian piemuō (“protection”), Ancient Greek πῶυ (pôu, “flock”), πῶμα (pôma, “lid”), ποιμήν (poimḗn, “shepherd”), Old Armenian հաւրան (hawran, “herd, flock”), Northern Kurdish pawan (“to watch over”), Sanskrit पाति (pāti, “he watches, protects”).
The verb is from Middle English furren, from Anglo-Norman furrer, forrer, fourrer (“to line, stuff, fill”), from the noun.

مِعْطَف

hairy skin processed to serve as clothing

(vulgar, slang, uncountable) Pubic hair.


lank

en-adj

lank (comparative lanker, superlative lankest)

lanker (comparative)
lankest (superlative)

From Middle English lank, from Old English hlanc, from Proto-West Germanic *hlank, from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“lank, thin”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend, turn, wind, twist”); compare German lenken (“to turn”), Gelenk (“joint”), Old High German hlanca (“hip, side, flank”), and English link (of a chain).

cog

Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flames
With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head
Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
About her lank and all o’erteemed loins,
A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

1700, Isaac Barrow, Sermon XXII “Of Industry in our particular Calling, as Scholars,” in The Works of the Learned Isaac Barrow, D.D., London: John Tillotson, 2nd edition, Volume III, p. 226,
[…] who would not chuse […] to have rather a lank purse than an empty brain […] ?

1724-5, Jonathan Swift, “A Receipt. To Restore Stella’s Youth” in The Works of Jonathan Swift, London: Henry Washbourne, 1841, Volume 1, p. 687,
Meagre and lank with fasting grown,
And nothing left but skin and bone;

The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together.

1820 March 5, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number VI, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC:

[…] while I stood in the dark, a hand touched mine, lank fingers came feeling over my face, and I was sensible of a peculiar unpleasant odour.

1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 6, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC:

Blacks in the fields, lank and stooped, their fingers spiderlike among the bolls of cotton.

1985, Cormac McCarthy, chapter 1, in Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:

Slender or thin; not well filled out; not plump; shrunken; lean.

1659, Samuel Cradock, Knowledge & Practice, Or, A Plain Discourse of the Chief Things Necessary to be Known, Believ’d & Practised in order to Salvation, London: John Rothwell, Chapter 17, Of the Duties of the Rich, pp. 494-495,
We should think him a very imprudent Husbandman, that to save a little seed at present, would sow so thin, as to spoil his crop. And the same folly ’twill be in us, if by the sparingness and niggardize of our Almes, we make our selves a lank Harvest hereafter, and lose the reward God hath provided for the liberal Almes-giver.

The Captain was inclined to be bald, but he brought a quantity of lank iron-grey hair over his pate, and had a couple of whisps of the same falling down on each side of his face.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

(obsolete) Meagre, paltry, scant in quantity.

1695, John Stevens (translator), The Portugues Asia; or, The History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the Portugues, by Manuel de Faria e Sousa, London: C. Brome, Chapter 10, p. 291,
The Inhabitants most simple, and treated them with great affection. Of Colour more inclined to white, of Body strong and comly, lank Hair, and long Beards, their Cloaths of very fine Mats […]

Their heads and breasts were covered with a thick hair, some frizled, and others lank; they had beards like goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs, and the fore-parts of their legs and feet […]

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV), page 129:

She had a thin awkward figure, a sallow skin without colour, dark lank hair, and strong features—so much for her person; and not less unpropitious for heroism seemed her mind.

1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:

There were coffee houses where the first medical men might be consulted. […] There were Puritan coffee houses where no oath was heard, and where lank-haired men discussed election and reprobation through their noses.

1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 286:

He was an exceedingly thin old man. Down from his head to his shoulders hung long, yellow, lank locks and within this enclosure was an old bony face, the forehead seamed with a thousand wrinkles.

1940, Hugh Walpole, The Bright Pavilions, London: Macmillan, Part I:

(of hair) Straight and flat; thin and limp. (Often associated with being greasy.)

The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played,
Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in,
Bearing her straight to aged Nereus’ hall;
Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe […]

1634, John Milton, Comus, lines 833–837:

Let us weigh the promises of the one and of the other in the balance of truth, and we shall finde that the promises of God are gold, and the promises of the devil are Alchimy, such which though they glitter much, have no worth or excellency in them. […] God’s, are substantial realities, and his, vanishing and fleeting shadows windy and swollen bladders, which but a little prickt, do quickly fall and grow lank.

1655, William Spurstowe, chapter 18, in The Wels of Salvation Opened, London: Ralph Smith, pages 249–250:


capillary

/ˈkæpɪˌlɛɹi/

/ˈkæpɪˌlɛɹi/

/käˈpɪʎä.ɹi/

/käˈpɪʎä.ɾi/

From Latin capillāris (“pertaining to the hair”), from capillus (“the hair, properly of the head”), from caput (“head”).

der

(anatomy) Any of the small blood vessels (from 5 to 10 micrometres/micrometers (μm) in diameter) that connect arteries to veins (They are the smallest blood vessels in the body: they convey blood between the arterioles and venules).

kapilar

any of small blood vessels that connect arteries to veins


fuzzy

en-adj

fuzzy (comparative fuzzier, superlative fuzziest)

fuzzier (comparative)
fuzziest (superlative)

Uncertain. Apparently from fuzz + -y, though some sources suggest that fuzz derives from fuzzy. Compare fozy, or Low German fussig (“loose; spongy”).

Covered with fuzz or a large number of tiny loose fibres like a carpet or many stuffed animals


fuzzy

If you don't yet have a ferret, this book can help you decide whether a fuzzy is for you.

2000, Kim Schilling, Ferrets for Dummies, New York: Wiley, →ISBN, page 1:

Something covered with fuzz or hair, as an animal or plush toy.

A "fuzzy" on the other hand is a "people person," — someone who prefers studying the humanities or social sciences, someone who sees the world in broad contextual terms.

2010, Donald Barr, Questioning the Premedical Paradigm […] , Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 2:

If you majored in the humanities or social sciences, you were a fuzzy, and if you majored in engineering or computer science, you were a techie.

2017, Scott Hartley, The Fuzzy and the Techie […] , Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN:

(slang) A person, especially a college student, interested in humanities or social sciences, as opposed to one interested in mathematics, science, or engineering.


plat

The noun is derived from Middle English plat, platte (“flat part of a sword; flat piece of ground, plot of ground”), probably a variant of Middle English plot, (modern English plot) and influenced by Middle English plat, plate (modern English plate) and Anglo-Norman, Middle French and Old French plat. See platy-, plaice, flat.
The verb is derived from the noun.

The best ſoyle commonly yeelds the worſt Ayre, a dry ſandy plat is fitteſt to build upon, and ſuch as is rather hilly then plaine, full of Downes, a Cotſwald county, as being moſt commodious for hawking, hunting, wood, waters, and all manner of pleaſures.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Ayre Rectified. With a Digression of the Ayre.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 3, page 220:

Such pleaſure took the Serpent to behold
 This Flourie Plat, the ſweet receſs of Eve
 Thus earlie, thus alone; [...]

1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 455–457:

O Blackbird! sing me something well: / While all the neighbours shoot thee round, / I keep smooth plats of fruitful ground, / Where thou may’st warble, eat, and dwell.

1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Blackbird”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 208:

[W]e come to a spot which must have been a favorite resting-place for the poet, a low stone seat under a huge live oak, with a formal plat of grass and a stone seat opposite.

1913 April, Lela Angier Lenfest, “The Garden of ‘The Rosary’”, in Sunset: The Pacific Monthly, volume 30, number 4, San Francisco, Calif.: H. S. Crocker, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 353:

For which cauſe I wiſh you to enter into conſideration of the matter, & to note all the Iſlands, and to ſet them downe in plat, to two ends: that is to ſay, That we may deuiſe to take the benefit by them, And alſo foreſee how by them the Sauages or ciuill Princes may in any ſort annoy us in our purpoſed trade that way.

1580, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], published 1589, →OCLC, page 460:

A husband can not, without authority from his wife, plat her land, and the fact that the land which he assumes to plat was omitted by mistake from a previous plat made and acknowledged by her can make no difference.

1888, John W[orth] Kern, official reporter, “The City of Indianapolis v. Patterson”, in Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Indiana, […], volume 112, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bowen-Merrill Co., law publishers, →OCLC, headnote:

The purpose of the preapplication conference is to allow the developer to meet informally with the planning board before going to the expense of preparing a formal plat.

1982, Robert N[eil] Corley, Peter J. Shedd, Charles F. Floyd, Real Estate and the Law, New York, N.Y.: Business Division, Random House, →ISBN, page 174; Charles F. Floyd, Marcus T. Allen, “Public Restrictions on Ownership”, in Real Estate Principles, 7th edition, Chicago, Ill.: Dearborn Real Estate Education, Dearborn Financial Publishing, 2002, →ISBN, page 75:

In 1877, a formal plat of the unincorporated village was published [...]. The publication of the plat, seven years after the village was laid out, likely reflected the beginning of the process toward formal incorporation of the municipality.

2005 November 23, Aharon N. Varady, “Bond Hill, Ohio, 1870–1903”, in Bond Hill: Origin and Transformation of a 19th Century Cincinnati Metro-Suburb, 10th edition, Cincinnati, Oh.: Henry Watkin Press & Cosmographic Design Initiates, →ISBN, page 76:

A map showing the boundaries of real properties (delineating one or more plots of land), especially one that forms part of a legal document.

скица

Besides some care is taken, so far as conveniently can be, both to give regard to the further spring of any matter tending to the entry or execution of any other or evil plat, and also upon the sight thereof, to have timely recourse to the King, to warn him and others to beware and provide for the seasonable prevention of the danger; [...]

1582 July 9, Robert Bowes, “CCXXV.—‘To Sir Francis Walsingham, ix July 1583.’ From the Letter-Book, p. 223.”, in [Joseph] Stevenson, editor, The Correspondence of Robert Bowes, of Aske, Esquire, the Ambassador of Queen Elizabeth in the Court of Scotland (The Publications of the Surtees Society), London: J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Son, […]; William Pickering, […]; Edinburgh: Laing and Forbes, published 1842, →OCLC, page 488:

[S]o shall our plat in this one point be larger and much surmount that which [Richard] Stanihurst first tooke in hand by his exameters dactilicke and spondaicke in the translation of Virgills Eneidos, [...]

1589, George Puttenham, chapter XII, in The Arte of English Poesie: […], London: Printed by Richard Field, […], →OCLC; republished as Jos[eph] Haslewood, editor, The Arte of English Poesie, London: Printed by Harding and Wright, […], for Robert Triphook, […], 1811, →OCLC, book II (Of Proportion Poetical), page 90:


plat

en-noun

plat (countable and uncountable, plural plats)

The noun is a variant of plait.
The verb is from Middle English platte, English plat, respectively archaic past and past participle forms of English pleat (a variant of plait), Middle English platten (“to braid, weave; plait; to fold”).

inh

Her haire nor looſe nor ti'd in formall plat, / Proclaimd in her a careleſſe hand of pride; [...]

1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

they also wear a cap or cup on the head formed of beargrass and cedar bark. the men also frequently attatch some small ornament to a small plat of hair on the center of the crown of their heads.

c. 1806, record in the journals of Lewis and Clark, recorded in The United States Exploration Anthology (2013)

[…] hair ornamented with a bandeau of gold on one side of the forehead, with a large pearl in the centre of the bandeau; on the opposite side is a plat of hair.

1830, The Ladies’ Museum, volume 31, page 59:

A braid; a plait (of hair, straw, etc.).


plat

en-verb

plat (third-person singular simple present plats, present participle platting, simple past and past participle platted)

plats (present singular third-person)
platting (participle present)
platted (participle past)
platted (past)

And when they had platted a crowne of thornes, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, ſaying, haile king of the Jewes.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 27:29:

A customer hailed him; he placed the stool on the ground, and the customer seated himself upon it, while the barber shaved his face, platted his hair, and washed his hands [...]

1844, Thomas Jefferson Jacobs, Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Pacific Ocean, page 349:

She platted her hair in segments the night before, so that today she’d have a rippling effect through her hair.

2006, Elka Paquette, Taboo, →ISBN, page 100:

She carried in her hand a broad belt of wampum, and a white honeycomb from the hollow oak, and on her way she stopped and platted a garland of the gayest flowers of the season.

1828, William Cullen Bryant, “The Cascade of Melsingah”, in The Talisman, volume 1, New York, page 206:

(dated except regional England) To braid, to plait.


mascara

en-noun

mascara (countable and uncountable, plural mascaras)

/ˌmæsˈkɑːɹə/

apply mascara

put on mascara

mascara runs

mascara smudges

With her rouged cheeks, silver lipcoat and mascara she might have been any girl after an hour at her mother's dressing table.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 157:

There were a lot of young girls, in their early-twenties she guessed, many of them either Gothed up in thick black mascara and black lip stick, others looking like stereotypical Beat Girls in black rollnecks and jeans.

2007, James Burr, Ugly Stories for Beautiful People, page 45:

A cosmetic used to darken and thicken the eyelashes.


eyebrow

From Middle English eȝebreu, alteration of Old English ēaganbrū (“eyebrow”), equivalent to eye + brow. The corresponding Old English ēagbrǣw meant "eyelid". Compare Dutch oogbrauw (“eyelid; eyelash; eyebrow”), German Augenbraue (“eyebrow”).

The hair that grows over the bone ridge above the eye socket.

minin

(construction) A dormer, usually of small size, whose roof line over the upright face is typically an arched curve, turning into a reverse curve to meet the horizontal line at either end.

A clump of waste fibres that builds up in a roller machine.


eyebrow

en-verb

eyebrow (third-person singular simple present eyebrows, present participle eyebrowing, simple past and past participle eyebrowed)

eyebrows (present singular third-person)
eyebrowing (participle present)
eyebrowed (participle past)
eyebrowed (past)

(intransitive) To build up waste fibres in a roller machine.


fin

Dutch language
German language
Latin language
Middle English language
Old English language
Old Irish language
Proto-Germanic language
Proto-Indo-European language
Sanskrit language
Swedish language
Tocharian A language
fin
fin (disambiguation)

From Middle English fin, from Old English finn, from Proto-Germanic *finnō, *finǭ (“dorsal fin”) (compare Dutch vin, German Finne, Swedish finne, fena), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pīn- (“backbone, dorsal fin”) (compare Old Irish ind (“end, point”), Latin pinna (“feather, wing, fin”), Tocharian A spin (“hook”), Sanskrit स्फ्य (sphyá, “splinter, staff”).

cog-lite

A sharp raised edge (generally in concrete) capable of damaging a roof membrane or vapor retarder.


shimada

A traditional type of formal hairstyle for unmarried women in Japan, whereby the hair is gathered together and fastened to the top of the head.


part

desc

→ Cantonese: part (paat¹), parts (paat¹ si²) (from the plural noun form)

→ Japanese: パート (pāto), パーツ (pātsu) (from the plural noun form)

From Middle English part, from Old English part (“part”) and Old French part (“part”); both from Latin partem, accusative of pars (“piece, portion, share, side, party, faction, role, character, lot, fate, task, lesson, part, member”), from Proto-Indo-European *par-, *per- (“to sell, exchange”). Akin to Latin portiō (“a portion, part”), parāre (“to make ready, prepare”). Displaced Middle English del, dele (“part”) (from Old English dǣl (“part, distribution”) > Modern English deal (“portion; amount”)), Middle English dale, dole (“part, portion”) (from Old English dāl (“portion”) > Modern English dole), Middle English sliver (“part, portion”) (from Middle English sliven (“to cut, cleave”), from Old English (tō)slifan (“to split”)).

noncog

3 is a part of 12.

A portion; a component.
(mathematics, dated) A factor.

(Judaism) In the Hebrew lunisolar calendar, a unit of time equivalent to 3⅓ seconds.


baldness

en-noun

baldness (countable and uncountable, plural baldnesses)

From Middle English ballednesse, equivalent to bald + -ness.

My baldness was the result of radiotherapy.

We turn next to the puzzle of borderlineness: If Harry is intermediate between clear cases and clear noncases of baldness, “Is Harry bald?” seems to have no good, direct, answer.

2013, Gillian Russell, Delia Graff Fara, Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language, page 144:

The condition or state of being (or becoming) bald.

صَلَع

Haarausfall (androgenetischer; beim Mann, bei der Frau)


hairstyle

The style in which someone's hair has been cut and arranged.


merkin

1617, probably a variant form of malkin, from Malde + -kin.

... his penis squashed invisible under a flesh-colored leather jockstrap, over which he wears a false cunt and merkin of sable both handcrafted in Berlin by the notorious Mme. Ophir, the mock labia and bright purple clitoris molded of — Madame had been abject, pleading shortage — synthetic rubber and Mipolam, the new polyvinyl chloride...

1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

A woman's pubic wig. Worn for nude stage appearances and by women, originally after shaving their pubic hair to eliminate lice or for other reasons, now often as a fashion item.