merkin

Representing an aphetic pronunciation of American.

For all you non-'merkins: Most 'merkins are idiots, just like the residents of your country. See, most people are idiots. We just have idiots with a higher average income than you do, so they can afford to be better cretins.

1998 January 15, Vasilisha, “Internet Oracularities Digest #973”, in rec.humor.oracle.d (Usenet):

It is, unfortunately, an all-to-common assumption -- sort of like assuming that all posters here are 'merkins. Perhaps it's best to assume that all posters are vertebrates (I was going to type primates, but one of my neutered cats sent a post awhile^([sic]) back).

2000 August 2, John Monrad, “One group's thoughts”, in talk.origins (Usenet):

There is a brand of cheap, nasty aftershave over in Britain caller Que. About two quid a bottle and it's foul. Buy some and fly to Noo Yawk. Then sell it to a Murkin for forty bucks. Tell them it is Calvin Klein's British version.

2000 December 29, RampRat, “making money from stupid Murkins”, in alt.nuke.the.british (Usenet):

Well he did say he doesn't follow the sport so it is understandable that he isn't aware of the four year rotation (soon to be changed to 2 years if FIFA (the internatinal football body for you unknowing merkins) have their way). I couldn't tell you sod all about the 'World' Series as I don't follow Baseball.

2002 June 23, John of Aix, “Where Did The Merkin Footballers Go?”, in alt.nuke.the.usa (Usenet):

(British, slang, derogatory) An American.


wig

Clipping of periwig, itself an alteration of French perruque. The meaning of "to reprimand" perhaps came from this being something a bigwig would do or perhaps from the expressions to flip one's wig, wigs on the green, or dash my wig!

A head of real or synthetic hair worn on the head to disguise baldness, for cultural or religious reasons, for fashion, or by actors to help them better resemble the character they are portraying.

שייטל

specifically the sheitel worn by married Orthodox Jewish women


silver fox

Vulpes vulpes
Vulpes vulpes#Translingual

A melanistic red fox (Vulpes vulpes) with silver to black fur.


electrolysis

en-noun

electrolysis (countable and uncountable, plural electrolyses)

Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1834 for Michael Faraday. From electro- + -lysis (“a loosening”). Originally of tumors, later (1909) of hair removal.

coin

But current leakage in a Tube tunnel can cause electrolysis to occur in steel retaining walls, which in turn causes them to rust; it could also damage the foundations of nearby buildings.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 136:

(chemistry) the chemical change produced by passing an electric current through a conducting solution or a molten salt.


hairy

en-adj

hairy (comparative hairier, superlative hairiest)

hairier (comparative)
hairiest (superlative)

From Middle English hery, heeri, hary, equivalent to hair + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian hierich (“hairy”), West Frisian hierrich (“hairy”), Dutch harig (“hairy”), German Low German harig (“hairy”), German haarig (“hairy”), Swedish hårig (“hairy”), Icelandic hárugur (“hairy”). Compare also Old English hǣriht (“hairy”) and ġehǣre (“hairy”).
The sense "terrifying, scary" possibly results from a blend of hair-raising and scary.

a hairy man

(of a person) Having a lot of body hair.

hairy chest;   hairy back

(of a human body part other than the head) Having hair growing from it.

yelling about dirty, hairy hippies

Near-synonym: hairlike

hairy cell leukemia

hairy moss

en:seeming as if hair-covered or as if consisting of hair

Seeming as if hair-covered or as if consisting of hair.


curls

Specifically, a body of curly hair on someone's head.

kiharat

specifically, a body of curly hair on someone's head


glabrous

glabrous (comparative more glabrous, superlative most glabrous)

more glabrous (comparative)
most glabrous (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-glabrous.wav

From Latin glaber (“smooth; bald, hairless”) + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives, denoting possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance). Glaber is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *gʰleh₂dʰ- (“smooth; bright, shining”), possibly from *ǵʰelh₂- (“to shine”).

ref

From the collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

der

[T]he Vernacula or French Elm, whoſe leaves are thicker, and more florid, glabrous and ſmooth, delighting in the lower and moiſter grounds, where they will ſometimes riſe to above an hundred foot in height; […]

1670, John Evelyn, “. Chapter IV. Of the Elm.”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, →OCLC, page 28:

[Crotalaria obtecta] Stems tall, erect, branched: stipules not decurrent: leaves simple, usually glabrous on the upper side: […] legumes oblong, many-seeded, glabrous or softly pubescent.

1834, Robert Wight, G[eorge] A[rnott] Walker-Arnott, “Order LVI.—Leguminosæ. Juss.”, in Prodromus Floræ Peninsulæ Indiæ Orientalis: Containing Abridged Descriptions of the Plants Found in the Peninsula of British India, Arranged According to the Natural System [Preliminary Publication of the Flora of the Peninsula of Oriential India], volume I, London: Parbury, Allen, & Co., →OCLC, paragraph 572, page 186:

'I am bound by precedent,' said the First Lord, turning a vast glabrous expressionless face from Harte to Sir Joseph.

1973, Patrick O’Brian, chapter 1, in HMS Surprise, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, published 2002, →ISBN, page 2:

Adriaan rose, pulling out his limbering glabrous cock, his eyes happy.

1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!: Six Stories, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 190:

The glabrous old head cranks round on him, stiff and slow, until the clouded eyes draw level with his own.

1981, T[homas] Coraghessan Boyle, “Mo O Mo Inta Allo”, in Water Music (The Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series), New York, N.Y., London: Penguin Books, published 1983, →ISBN, part 1 (The Niger), page 143:

Pietro Perugino
Vallombrosa Abbey
Vallombrosa Altarpiece

أَمْلَس

bald, hairless — see also bald, hairless


shag

en-adj

shag (comparative more shag, superlative most shag)

more shag (comparative)
most shag (superlative)

From Middle English *schagge, from Old English sċeacga (“hair, wool”), from Proto-Germanic *skaggô, *skaggiją (“projection, bristly hair, stem”), *skag- (“to emerge, stick out, protrude”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kek- (“to jump, move, hurry”).
Akin to Old Norse skegg (“beard”) (compare Danish skæg, Norwegian skjegg, Swedish skägg). Related to shake and shock via the root.

der

Son. Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain!

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 ii]:


bristle

en-verb

bristle (third-person singular simple present bristles, present participle bristling, simple past and past participle bristled)

bristles (present singular third-person)
bristling (participle present)
bristled (participle past)
bristled (past)

dated, rural folk speech of New England and Upstate New York

From Middle English bristil, bristel, brustel, from Old English bristl, byrst, *brystl, *byrstel, from Proto-West Germanic *burstilu, diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *bursti, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz (compare Dutch borstel, German Borste (“boar's bristle”), Icelandic burst), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥stís (compare Middle Irish brostaid (“to goad, spur”), Latin fastīgium (“top”), Polish barszcz (“hogweed”)), equivalent to brust + -le.

Your blatant attitude always bristles me.

Mr. Berman, you know me well enough to know that I—and it just bristles me when I hear agriculture thrown into one lump basket, that we’re a bunch of crooks and treat our workers bad, because that is not the case. I have—I wish you could talk to some of my farm workers.

1996, Guest Worker Programs: […], United States Government Publishing Office, page 116:

I scowl. “Pretty sure women are not explicitly forbidden in my contract.”
He lowers his voice. “No, but it’s good to be cautious when you're trying to rehab a public image.”
Something about the comment bristles me. “Hey, it’s not my image. I’ve always been good.”

2016 November 16, Lauren Blakely, Out of Bounds, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 65:

When we take on a new name, it can be hard for other people to get used to. […] But if someone new in my life calls me that old name, it bristles me. That’s not who I am.

2021 February, Phoenix LeFae, Gwion Raven, Life Ritualized: A Witch's Guide to Honoring Life's Important Moments, Llewellyn Worldwide, page 135:

‘No. I don’t believe in wasting my money on crap like that.’
‘It’s not your money, it’s mine.’ I can see the comment bristles him; he feels inadequate: his daughter is wealthier than he’s ever been.

2021 April, Terry Westby-Nunn, The Artist Vanishes, Penguin Random House South Africa, page 159:

(transitive, uncommon) To cause (someone) to be on one's guard or raise one's defenses.


bobble

* (noun): from bob + -le (diminutive suffix).
* (verb): from bob + -le (frequentative suffix).
Compare bauble.

(British) Elasticated band used for securing hair (for instance in a ponytail), a hair tie


afloat

1695, Edmund Gibson (translator), Camden’s Britannia, London: A. Swalle, “Staffordshire,”
[…] it [the River Dove] overflows and lays the meadows afloat in April, like another Nile.


curl

From metathesis of Middle English crulle (“curled, curly”), from Middle Dutch crul, crulle (“curl”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kruzlǭ (“bent or crooked object, curl”), of unknown origin; possibly from Pre-Germanic *grus-, contracted from Proto-Indo-European *gurus- (“twist, curl”), same source as Persian گرس (gors, “braid of hair”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Krulle (“curl, lock”), West Frisian krul (“curl”), Dutch krul (“curl”), German Low German Krull (“curl”), dialectal German Krolle (“curl”), Danish krølle (“curl”), Norwegian krull (“curl”). Related also to Saterland Frisian Kruus (“curl”), German kraus (“frizzy, crumpled, curly”), Danish krus (“curl”), Swedish krusa (“to crimp, curl”). Compare also Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to grind, crush, gnash”).

unk

unknown

cog

[…]she took it down, looked long and fondly at it, then, shaking her curls about her face, as if to hide the act, pressed it to her lips and seemed to weep over it in an uncontrollable paroxysm of tender grief.

1866, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 7, in Behind A Mask or, A Woman's Power:

Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.[…]She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter 1, in The Purchase Price:

The face which emerged was not reassuring.[…]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

A curving piece or lock of hair; a ringlet.

Now do a curl and an overhead press, keeping your palms facing in.

2007 (Jan/Feb), Jon Crosby, "Your Winter Muscle Makeover", Men's Health, page 54

(weightlifting) Any exercise performed by bending the arm, wrist, or leg on the exertion against resistance, especially those that train the biceps.

The one-piece back is of a medium curl.

(music, chiefly lutherie) The contrasting light and dark figure seen in wood used for stringed instrument making; the flame.

loimukuvio

music: light and dark figure seen in wood


curl

en-verb

curl (third-person singular simple present curls, present participle curling, simple past and past participle curled)

curls (present singular third-person)
curling (participle present)
curled (participle past)
curled (past)

straighten

antonym(s) of “to make into a curl or spiral”

straighten

antonym(s) of “to assume the shape of a curl or spiral”

→ Kashubian: kurlowac (Canada)

unk

unknown

She curls her spine; she wedges a pillow between her knees.

2004, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Twelve Times Blessed, page 249:

(transitive) To make into a curl or spiral.

Seas would be pools without the brushing air / To curl the waves.

1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.


marcel

Apparently from the French name Marcel, but accounts vary regarding who invented the style.


kemp

en-adj

kemp (comparative more kemp, superlative most kemp)

more kemp (comparative)
most kemp (superlative)

From Middle English kempe, campe (“shaggy, rough”).


mouser

From Middle English mousere (“a hunter of mice”), equivalent to mouse + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (occupational suffix). The “moustache” sense is apparently an extended usage (i.e., a cat’s whiskers, jocularly transferred to human beings), possibly with influence from moustache.

inh

He was a pretty man, well upstanding, with great shoulders on him and his hair was fair and fine and he had a broad brow and a gey bit coulter of a nose and he twisted his mouser ends up with wax like that creature the German Kaiser […].

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 20:

the official resident cat at 10 Downing Street


poller

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


cue

Variant of queue, from French queue (“tail”).

Fat, short, radiant, General Chattesworth—in full, artillery uniform—was there, smiling, and making little speeches to the ladies, and bowing stiffly from his hips upward—his great cue playing all the time up and down his back, and sometimes so near the ground when he stood erect and threw back his head, that Toole, seeing Juno eyeing the appendage rather viciously, thought it prudent to cut her speculations short with a smart kick.

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

(obsolete) The tail; the end of a thing; especially, a tail-like twist of hair worn at the back of the head; a queue.


hackle

en-noun

hackle (countable and uncountable, plural hackles)

From Middle English hakle (compare the compound meshakele), from Old English hæcla, hacele, from Proto-Germanic *hakulǭ, equivalent to hack + -le. Cognate with Dutch hekel, German Hechel.

Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk.


muff

Probably from Dutch mof (“muff, mitten”).

(vulgar, slang) The vulva or vagina; pubic hair around it.


pomade

pomade (countable and uncountable, plural pomades)

From French pommade, from Italian pomata (“ointment, pomade”), from pomo (“apple”) + -ata (“-ade, -ate: forming nouns”), from Latin pomum (“fruit, apple”) and -atum. Doublet of pomatum, pomate, and pomace. Early pomades tended to be various kinds of fat mixed with apples for a more pleasing scent.

So saying, Lady Mandeville turned to the toilette, and mercilessly tied up in her handkerchief the various brushes, combs, oils, pomade, and rouge, with which the table was profusely covered.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 44:

The rain beat my hair, run down my face and into my mouth so that I can taste the coconut oil pomade from my hair.

2020, Abi Daré, The Girl With The Louding Voice, Sceptre, page 94:

A greasy or waxy substance that is used to style hair, making it look slick and shiny.

With this excellent Pomade you may Anoint your Face at night, and waſh it off the next day in the morning with Rain-water.

1680, T. K., The Kitchin-Phyſician; Or, a Guide for Good-Housewives in Maintaining Their Families in Health. […] , Of Medicines and other Remedies which are appropriated to the Skin, Hair, and Teeth, page 9:

(obsolete or historical) Synonym of ointment, particularly thick waxy ointments scented with fruit used to beautify the skin or hair.

(obsolete) Synonym of cider, a soft or hard drink made from apples.


pomade

en-verb

pomade (third-person singular simple present pomades, present participle pomading, simple past and past participle pomaded)

pomades (present singular third-person)
pomading (participle present)
pomaded (participle past)
pomaded (past)

(transitive, obsolete or historical) Synonym of anoint, to apply ointment.


tweeze

tweeze (third-person singular simple present tweezes, present participle tweezing, simple past and past participle tweezed)

tweezes (present singular third-person)
tweezing (participle present)
tweezed (participle past)
tweezed (past)

Stamp-men tweeze their treasures to avoid smudging, wear, tear; to hold them up to the light or pick them out of benzine baths in search of watermarks.

1929 September 2, “Philatelists”, in Time:

He held his usual levee at his lodgings; he spent the usual hours washing and dressing; he rubbed his teeth with a red root, tweezed out hairs with a silver tweezer, tied his cravat to admiration, and issued at four precisely as perfectly equipped as if the Rue Royale had been St. James's Street and the Prince himself had hung upon his arm.

1930, Virginia Woolf, “Beau Brummell”, in The Common Reader: Second Series, published 1932:

(transitive) To pluck or grasp using tweezers.

Here Mrs. Lawrence had smiled to soften the anxiety of her blue eyes under their frowning, carefully tweezed brows.

1950, Anya Seton, chapter 1, in Foxfire, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, page 4:

He’d run his lacquered, dusky pink index finger over his tweezed mustache and say […]

1988, Edmund White, chapter 3, in The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, published 1994:

(transitive) To shape by plucking out hairs with tweezers.

Word to the wise: if you must tweeze solo, stick to plucking only the obvious stray hairs.

2012 November 16, Adriana Ermter, “How to get the perfect eyebrows: Four reasons to enlist a professional”, in Chatelaine:

(intransitive) To pluck out hairs using tweezers.


depilation

en-noun

depilation (countable and uncountable, plural depilations)

Hair had appeared in greater quantities where I didnʼt want it, and I couldnʼt keep up with the demands of depilation.

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, pages 150–151:

Act of pulling out or removing the hair; unhairing; hair removal.


buzz

buzz (countable and uncountable, plural buzzes)

From Middle English *bussen, of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Middle English bunning (“buzzing”), Middle English hossing (“buzzing”), Middle English bissen (“to hush”).

Mr. Hall? The buzz on Christian is that his parents have joint custody, so he'll be spending one semester in Chicago and one semester here.

1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Cher (Alicia Silverstone):

I wasn't performing with Pimp and Smoove that much no more, but I had a solo deal with Ruthless Rap and a brand new mixtape that was creating a big buzz.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 103:

In Detroit, the buzz is that he's too nice a guy, unwilling to impose draconian job cuts at the risk of angering the UAW.

2006 September 6, Daren Fonda, “Ford Motor's New Chief: "I Think It's a Tough Situation"”, in Time:

Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Who's he?
Patrick: He's only the most popular kid in school.
Allen Gregory: Ah, the two heavyweights finally meet. Sure you're tired of all the buzz. Allen Gregory DeLongpre.

2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)

(informal) Major topic of conversation; widespread rumor; information spread behind the scenes.


crisp

en-adj

crisp (comparative crisper, superlative crispest)

crisper (comparative)
crispest (superlative)

From Middle English crisp (“curly”), from Old English crisp (“curly”), from Latin crispus (“curly”). Doublet of crape and crepe.

crisp hair

(dated) Curling in stiff curls or ringlets.


crisp

A baked dessert made with fruit and crumb topping

kale crisps

(UK, Ireland, food) Anything baked or fried in thin slices and eaten as a snack.


crisp

en-verb

crisp (third-person singular simple present crisps, present participle crisping, simple past and past participle crisped)

crisps (present singular third-person)
crisping (participle present)
crisped (participle past)
crisped (past)

[…] those crisped snaky golden locks
Which make such wanton gambols with the wind,

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

1609, Douay-Rheims Bible, 2 Chronicles 4.5,
[…] the brimme therof was as it were the brimme of a chalice, or of a crisped lilie:

1630, Michael Drayton, The Muses Elizium, London: John Waterson, “The Description of Elizium,” The fift Nimphall, p. 44,
The Louer with the Myrtle Sprayes
Adornes his crisped Tresses:

[…] the well known rhubarb of our gardens, with roundish crisped leaves.

1800, Thomas Pennant, “China”, in The View of Hindoostan, volume 3, London: Henry Hughs, page 172:

For a time I was made to forget that my skin was dark and my hair crisped.

1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 23, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part II (Life as a Freeman), page 360:

The mere story of their adventures […] on their road to and from school would have crisped a Western boy’s hair.

1900 December – 1901 October, Rudyard Kipling, chapter 7, in Kim (Macmillan’s Colonial Library; no. 414), London: Macmillan and Co., published 1901, →OCLC, page 176:

(transitive, dated) To cause to curl or wrinkle (of the leaves or petals of plants, for example); to form into ringlets or tight curls (of hair).

[…] he consider’d what an infinity of Muscles these laughing Rascals threw into a convulsive motion at the same time; whether we regard the spasms of the Diaphragm and all the muscles of respiration, the horrible rictus of the mouth, the distortion of the lower jaw, the crisping of the nose, twinkling of the eyes, or sphaerical convexity of the cheeks, with the tremulous succussion of the whole human body:

1741, Alexander Pope, chapter 10, in Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, Dublin: George Faulkner, page 82:

Phillotson saw his wife turn and take the note, and the bend of her pretty head as she read it, her lips slightly crisped, to prevent undue expression under fire of so many young eyes.

1895, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, New York: Harper, published 1896, Part 4, Chapter 3, p. 266:

[…] a slow torsion and crisping of all his nerves, beginning at his ankles, spread to every corner of his body till he had to shut his fists and teeth against the blind impulse to leap from his bed screaming.

1914, Frank Norris, chapter 15, in Vandover and the Brute, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, pages 242–243:

Ah, here was a fellow coming! And instinctively he crisped his hands that were buried in his pockets, and ran over to himself his opening words.

1915, John Galsworthy, chapter 27, in The Freelands,, London: Heinemann, page 252:

They [the shark’s teeth] were shaped like a man’s fingers when they are crisped like claws.

1952, Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, New York: Scribner:

(transitive, dated) To wrinkle, contort or tense (a part of one's body).


shaver

From Middle English schaver; equivalent to shave + -er.
In its meaning of a boy, lad, recorded since 1592, the word shaver has also been postulated to derive from Romani chavo (“young man”), which also gives us the modern slang chav, ultimately derived from Sanskrit छा (chā, “young animal”).

A tool or machine for shaving; an electric razor.


razor

From Middle English rasour, from Old French rasour, from raser (“to scrape, to shave”). More at rat.
Displaced native Old English sċierseax (literally “shaving knife”).

ncog

Occam's razor, Hanlon's razor

(philosophy) A conceptual device that allows one to shave away unlikely explanations for a phenomenon.


toupee

1727, from French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), from Middle French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), from Old French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), diminutive of toupe, top (“tuft of hair”), from Frankish *topp (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”). Cognate with Old Dutch topp (“top”) (Dutch top), Old Frisian top (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), Old English top (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), Old High German zopf (“end, summit, tuft of hair”), Old Norse toppr (“tuft of hair, forelock”). More at top.

cog

A wig of false hair worn to cover a bald spot, especially as worn by a man.


tress

From Middle English tresse, from Old French tresce, of uncertain origin; possibly from Vulgar Latin *trichia, from Ancient Greek τριχία (trikhía, “rope”), from θρίξ (thríx, “hair”). Compare French tresse, Italian treccia.

nor was the doom / of guilty deed, but of a hapless wight / to sudden madness stung, ere ripe to die, / therefore the Queen of Hades had not shorn / the fair tress from her forehead, nor assigned / that soul to Stygian dark.

1910, Theodore C. Williams, The Aeneid, translation of Aeneis by Virgil, Book IV Chapter 28:

Even without theatrical shoes on, Erlys was taller than Luca Zombini, and kept her fair hair in a Psyche knot, out of which the less governable tresses continued, with the day, to escape.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 397:

A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet.

خُصْلَة

(by extension) A knot or festoon, as of flowers.


tress

en-verb

tress (third-person singular simple present tresses, present participle tressing, simple past and past participle tressed)

tresses (present singular third-person)
tressing (participle present)
tressed (participle past)
tressed (past)


shaggy

en-adj

shaggy (comparative shaggier, superlative shaggiest)

shaggier (comparative)
shaggiest (superlative)

Universal and Blumhouse’s M3gan is exactly the right amount of ridiculous, which is why it can afford to be a little shaggy toward the end.

2023 January 6, Charles Pulliam-Moore, “M3gan is a midrange delight about the horrors of 21st-century parenting”, in The Verge, archived from the original on 2023-09-15:


waxing

en-noun

waxing (countable and uncountable, plural waxings)

(countable) A cosmetic procedure in which hair is removed from the body by the application and removal of wax.


pug

Origin unknown, possibly related to West Flemish pugge (“(adjective) small; (noun) short person; pet name derived from the first name Pugge”); though it is uncertain whether sense 1 (“senses relating to someone or something small”) and sense 2 (“senses relating to people”) are derived from the same source.
Sense 1.8 (“small demon”) was probably influenced by, though not a variant of, puck.

pentu

It is to be observed in this experiment, […] that the loss of weight by feeding (tegs or pugs) on turnips, is remarkable: […]

1808, Thomas Batchelor, “Live Stock”, in General View of the Agriculture of the County of Bedford. […], London: […] [B. MᶜMillan] for Richard Phillips, […], →OCLC, section 2 (Sheep), page 541:

Senses relating to someone or something small.

(UK, regional, archaic) Also used as a proper name: any of various animals, such as a ferret, hare, squirrel, or young salmon.

(specifically) Synonym of teg (“a sheep (originally a ewe) in its second year, or from the time it is weaned until it is first shorn”)

teg

[…] I heard her call him dear pug, and found him to be her favourite monkey.

1712 October 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “THURSDAY, October 2, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 499; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 454:

Its proper Povver to hurt, each Creature feels, / Bulls aim their Horns, and Aſſes lift their Heels, / 'Tis a Bear's Talent not to kick, but hug, / And no Man vvonders he's not ſtung by Pug: […]

1733, Alexander Pope, The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace, […], London [actually Edinburgh]: […] L[awton] G[illiver] and sold by A. Dodd […], E[lizabeth] Nutt […], →OCLC, page 13:

Take avvay the pug, ſaid I, to the attendants—Take it avvay vvhile any of it is left—They reſcued the ſtill ſmiling babe, and run avvay vvith it.

1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLIII. Lady G. to Lady Grandison.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], 2nd edition, volume VI, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 211:

Or, is the Monkey sick, he takes his bed; / Old Slop is sent for, to prescribe for Pug.— […]

1812, Peter Pindar [pseudonym; John Wolcot], “Tristia; or, The Sorrows of Peter: […]. Elegy.”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] J[ohn] Walker, G. Wilkie and J. Robinson, G. Robinson, […]; and G. Goulding and Co. […], →OCLC, page 297:

(specifically, obsolete) An ape, a monkey; also (by extension) a human child.

[T]here is a dead silence, till pug is well out of cover, and the whole pack well in: then cheer the hounds with tally ho! till your lungs crack. Away he goes in gallant style, and the whole field is hard up, till pug takes a stiff country: […]

1812, [Maria] Edgeworth, “The Absentee. Chapter VIII.”, in Tales of Fashionable Life (2nd series), volume VI, London: […] [Heney] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 93–94:

That spell was broken by the sight of poor wearied pug, his once gracefully-floating brush all draggled and drooping, as he toiled up the sheep-paths toward the open down above.

1848, [Charles Kingsley], “The Philosophy of Fox-hunting”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 16:

Dear, delicate Madam, I am your little Paraquit, your Sparrovv, your Shock, your Pugg, your Squirrel.

1685 July (first performance), N[ahum] Tate, Cuckolds-Haven: Or, An Alderman No Conjurer. A Farce. […], London: […] J. H. and are to be sold by Edward Poole, […], published 1685, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 5:

Squirrels / Are not uncommon in the plantings on the broad edges, where they may be seen feeding on the deal-apples, as the Broadsmen call the fir-cones; nuts and acorns too they are fond of. […] Stoats sometimes chase them, but "pug" generally manages to escape, an[d] he can get to a tree first—he is a much more daring jumper.

1895, P[eter] H[enry] Emerson, “Shrew Mouse, or Rana, and Squirrels”, in Birds, Beasts and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland, London: David Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 363:


bush

From Middle English bush, from Old English busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *busk, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”). Doublet of bosque.
Cognate with West Frisian bosk (“forest”), Dutch bos (“forest”), German Busch (“bush”), Danish and Norwegian busk (“bush, shrub”), Swedish buske (“bush, shrub”), Persian بیشه (bêša/biše, “woods”). Latin and Romance forms (Latin boscus, Occitan bòsc, French bois, bûche and buisson, Italian bosco and boscaglia, Spanish bosque, Portuguese bosque) derive from the Germanic.

inh

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

As he ſtood on one ſide for a minute or ſo, unbuttoning his waſte-coat, and breeches, her fat brawny thighs hung down, and the whole greaſy landſkip lay fairly open to my view: a wide open-mouth’d gap, overſhaded with a grizzly buſh, ſeemed held out like a beggar’s wallet for its’ proviſion.

1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 65:

I rub her bush with my cheek and my chin, tickle her bonne-bouche with my tongue.

1941, Henry Miller, Under the Roofs of Paris (Opus Pistorum), New York: Grove Press, published 1983, page 27:

But no, the little pool of semen was there, proof positive, with droplets caught hanging in her bush.

1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 787:

I push my seed in her bush for life / It's gonna work because I'm pushing it right

2002, “The Seed (2.0)”, in Phrenology, performed by The Roots:

(slang, vulgar) A person's pubic hair, especially a woman's.


permanent

en-adj

permanent (comparative more permanent, superlative most permanent)

more permanent (comparative)
most permanent (superlative)

From Middle English permanent, permanente, from Middle French permanent, from Latin permanēns, from permaneō (“I stay through”). First attested in the 15th century.

Nothing in this world is truly permanent.


permanent

She had pewter-coloured hair set in a ruthless permanent, a hard beak and large moist eyes with the sympathetic expression of wet stones.

1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin, published 2005, page 8:

A chemical hair treatment imparting or removing curliness, whose effects typically last for a period of weeks; a perm.

(collectible card games) A card whose effects persist beyond the turn on which it is played.


permanent

en-verb

permanent (third-person singular simple present permanents, present participle permanenting, simple past and past participle permanented)

permanents (present singular third-person)
permanenting (participle present)
permanented (participle past)
permanented (past)


shampoo

en-noun

shampoo (countable and uncountable, plural shampoos)

→ Basque: xanpu

→ Catalan: xampú

⇒ Chinese: 香波 (xiāngbō)

→ Danish: shampoo

desctree

→ Dutch: shampoo
→ Acehnese: sampô
→ Indonesian: sampo

→ Estonian: šampoon

→ Faroese: sjampo

→ Finnish: shampoo, sampoo, šampoo

→ French: shampooing, shampoing, champoing
→ Bulgarian: шампоан (šampoan)
→ Greek: σαμπουάν (sampouán)
→ Russian: шампунь (šampunʹ)
→ Armenian: շամպուն (šampun)
→ Azerbaijani: şampun
→ Georgian: შამპუნი (šamṗuni)
→ Lithuanian: šampūnas
→ Romanian: șampon
→ Turkish: şampuan

→ Galician: xampú

→ German: Shampoo
→ Czech: šampón
→ Hungarian: sampon
→ Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic script: ша̀мпо̄н
Latin script: šàmpōn
→ Slovak: šampón

desc

→ Hebrew: שַׁמְפּוּ (shampú), שַׁמְפּוֹ (shampó)

→ Hindi: शैंपू (śaimpū)

→ Icelandic: sjampó

→ Irish: seampú

→ Italian: shampoo, sciampo

→ Japanese: シャンプー (shanpū)

→ Korean: 샴푸 (syampu)

→ Norwegian:

Bokmål: sjampo

Nynorsk: sjampo

→ Portuguese: champô, xampu (Brazil), (unadapted form) shampoo

→ Hunsrik: Schampu

→ Spanish: champú, shampoo, yampú

→ Swedish: schampo

→ Thai: แชมพู (chɛɛm-puu)

→ Yiddish: שאַמפּו (shampu)

→ Zulu: ishampu

From Hindi चाँपो (cā̃po) / चांपो (cāmpo), imperative form of चाँपना (cā̃pnā) / चांपना (cāmpnā, “to press, knead”), mid 18th c.

(originally) A traditional Indian and Persian body massage given after pouring warm water over the body and rubbing it with extracts from herbs.

(hygiene) A commercial liquid soaplike product for washing hair or other fibers, such as carpets.


shampoo

en-verb

shampoo (third-person singular simple present shampoos, present participle shampooing, simple past and past participle shampooed)

shampoos (present singular third-person)
shampooing (participle present)
shampooed (participle past)
shampooed (past)

(transitive) To press or knead the whole surface of the body of (a person), and at the same time to stretch the limbs and joints, in connection with the hot bath.


mullet

Wikispecies
From Middle English molet, mulett, from Old French mulet (now ‘grey mullet’), from Latin mullus (“red mullet”), from Ancient Greek μύλλος (múllos).

A fish of the family Mullidae (order Syngnathiformes), especially the genus Mullus (red mullets or goatfish).

moll

fish of the family Mullidae (red mullets)

(especially US) A fish of the family Mugilidae (order Mugiliformes) (grey mullets).

بُورِيّ

fish of the family Mugilidae (grey mullets)

(US) Any of several species of freshwater fish in the sucker family (especially in the genus Moxostoma, redhorses)


mullet

1994 US. Coined and popularized by hip hop group the Beastie Boys in their song "Mullet Head".

business in the front, party in the back

Coordinate term: bilevel

– Mullet head, don't touch the back
– Cut the sides, don't touch the back

– Maybe it's a curly fro.
– Maybe every day is bad hair day!
– Maybe it's a mullet!

2008, Danielle Corsetto, Girls With Slingshots 406:

A hairstyle where the hair is kept short on the top and sides and long at the back.


mullet

From Middle English molet, from Old French molette (“rowel”).

Grogan, Creation of 1859, or Moyvore, Westmeath. [...] Arms,—Barry of sex or and sable, on a chief engrailed azure a lion passant of the first. Crest,—A lion's head erased sable, charged with a mullet or.

1871, Debrett's illustrated baronetage and knightage (and companionage) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, page 215:

(heraldry) A star with straight edges and usually with five or six points.


quiff

His woolly brown hair shaped into a drooping quiff, he's been sitting poolside all morning, snatching sucks on cigarettes before the waiters can tell him no, and thinking about reworking some incidental music for the band's gig tomorrow.

2012 September 2, Tom Lamont, The Observer:

(UK) A hairstyle whereby the forelock is brushed and/or gelled upward, often associated with the styles of the 1950s.


forelock

From Middle English *forelock, *forelok, from Old English forelocc, equivalent to fore- + lock.

His fair large front and eye sublime declared / Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks / Round from his parted forelock manly hung / Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:

1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, 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 300-303:

1734, The Koran: Commonly Called the Alkoran of Mohammed, translated by George Sale, Sura 96, Congealed Blood, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7440/pg7440-images.html
Doth he not know that GOD seeth? / Assuredly. Verily, if he forbear not, we will drag him by the forelock, / the lying, sinful forelock. / And let him call his council to assistance: / we also will call the infernal guards to cast him into hell.

Warm with the blood of lads I know / Comes east the sighing air. / / It fanned their temples, filled their lungs, / Scattered their forelocks free;

1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, section XXXVIII:

This little boy, still flicking his head to one side between sentences though the long blond forelock that once excused the tic had been cut […]

1978, Edmund White, chapter VIII, in Nocturnes for the King of Naples, New York: St. Martin's Press, page 135:

The part of a person's hairstyle which covers the forehead.


callow

en-adj

callow (comparative callower or more callow, superlative callowest or most callow)

callower (comparative)
more callow (comparative)
callowest (superlative)
most callow (superlative)

From Middle English calwe (“bald”), from Old English calu (“bare, bald, callow”), from Proto-West Germanic *kalu, from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (“bare, naked, bald”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel(H)wo- (“bare, naked, bald”). Cognate with West Frisian keal (“bald”), Dutch kaal (“bald”), German Low German kahl (“bald”), German kahl (“bald”), Swedish kal and kalka (“bald”), and Russian го́лый (gólyj, “bare, naked, nude”).
Compare the phonetically and semantically similar Latin calvus (“bald”), Finnish kalju (“bald”), Persian کل (kal), and Sanskrit कुल्व (kulvá), which, despite their close resemblance to the Germanic and Slavic terms, are likely false cognates as shown by Grimm's law.

cog

Then there was a little Chinese in full azure costume, with long gesticulating arms, and large callow head, who pertinaciously threw in his squeaky plea for Confucius in the most unsyntactical French.

1878, Alfred Egmont Hake, Paris Originals: With Twenty Etchings, page 25:

In fact many of our fresh water fish are somewhat Chinese in their tastes, for I have frequently used, with great success, the callow and hairless young of field-mice as bait for mascalonge, pike, pickerel, bass and sheep'shead, […]

1883, William Charles Harris, The American Angler, volume 3, page 20:

[…] while its congener of the land (A. agrestis) breeds in myriads over the adjoining meadows, hollowing out its nest just enough under the sward for its hairless callow young to be clear of the dangerous scythe-blade.

1890, Mayne Reid, The Naturalist in Siluria, page 5:

There was a sense abroad as he spoke that the world was rocking together to great music, and this callow-headed professor by the table had caught a note of it.

1916, The Living Age, volume 290, page 24:

This time it held a callow-headed baby in a pink frock.

These hands were marked of hard work and yet soft enough to tenderly hold the baby's little callow head.

2011, Altea, Happiness Was a Red Cadillac, page 17:


shave

From Middle English shave, from Old English sceafa, from Proto-Germanic *skabô.

"[…] I had an awful shave getting into the harbour," remarked Archie.

1919, Edward Frederic Benson, Across the Stream:

(informal) A narrow miss or escape; a close shave.


tease

en-verb

tease (third-person singular simple present teases, present participle teasing, simple past and past participle teased)

teases (present singular third-person)
teasing (participle present)
teased (participle past)
teased (past)

From Middle English tesen, from Old English tǣsan (“to tease”), from Proto-West Germanic *taisijan (“to separate, tug, shred”).


sideburns

en-noun

sideburns pl (normally plural, singular sideburn)

Reformed from burnside, named after American Army general Ambrose Burnside (1824–1881), noted for his unusual facial hair.

named-after

Facial hair reaching from the top of the head down the side of the face to the side of the chin.

bakkebaarde

facial hair reaching from the top of the head down the side of the face to the side of the chin


brunette

Borrowed from French brunette, the feminine form of brunet, from brun (“brown”). Doublet of burnet.

And M. [Henri-François-Alphonse] Esquiros, in describing the Dutch generally, speaks of beauties both blondes and brunettes, ‘for black hair is not uncommon in the Netherlands.’ These words seem to imply that black hair does not preponderate; and, if not, there must be a marked difference between the Dutch and the English. Here again is confirmation of the opinion that the modern English are somewhat more dark-haired than the ancient Saxons.

1866, Luke Owen Pike, “The Evidence of Physical Characteristics”, in The English and Their Origin. A Prologue to Authentic English History., London: Longmans, Green, and Co., pages 145–146:

The housekeeper, a very decorative brunette of thirty-five with a pseudo-English accent, greeted him with a mixture of grateful effusion and condescending patronage.

1946, William Hatfield, Buffalo Jim, Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege, page 70:

Brownheads or brunettes use a darker red than blondes and redheads.

A person, especially female, with brown hair.

سَمْرَاء

a person, especially female, with brown hair


pony

→ Belarusian: по́ні (póni)

→ Danish: pony

→ Dutch: pony
→ Indonesian: poni

→ Finnish: poni

→ French: poney
→ Romanian: ponei

→ Georgian: პონი (ṗoni)

→ German: Pony
→ Estonian: poni

→ Hungarian: póni

→ Irish: pónaí

→ Italian: pony

→ Japanese: ポニー (ponī)

→ Lithuanian: ponis

→ Maltese: poni

→ Norwegian: ponni

desc

→ Portuguese: pónei, pônei (Brazil), poney

→ Russian: пони (poni)

→ Spanish: poni

→ Swedish: ponny

→ Ukrainian: по́ні (póni)

1659 from Scots powny, apparently from Middle French poulenet (“little foal”), ultimately from Late Latin pullanus (“young of an animal”), from pullus (cognate to English foal). Sense “small serving of alcohol” from 19th century, both for small sizes generally and for a quarter pint specifically, from the small size.

uder

His hair is a semilong dull red and pulled back in a sloppy pony at the base of his neck, and his face is riddled with small freckles and grease, but out here I can see personal hygiene isn't exactly at the top of the priority list.

2012, Amlynn Smith, Lost and Found, page 18:

He suggested a Rose Ballet in which he would use the G. V. Follies chorus girls, chiefly the ponies and mediums.

1941, Thoda Cocroft, Great Names and how They are Made, page 140:

(slang, derogatory, video games) Ellipsis of Sony pony.


poll

From Middle English pol, polle ("scalp, pate"), from or cognate with Middle Dutch pol, pōle, polle (“top, summit; head”), from Proto-West Germanic *poll, from Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“round object, head, top”), from Proto-Indo-European *bolno-, *bōwl- (“orb, round object, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”).
Akin to Scots pow (“head, crown, scalp, skull”), Saterland Frisian pol (“round, full, brimming”, adj), German Low German Polle, Poll (“round object, ball”), German Low German Poller (“head, tree-top, bulb”), Danish puld (“crown of a hat”), Swedish dialectal pull (“head”).
Meaning "collection of votes" is first recorded 1625, from the notion of "counting heads".

cog

The polls close at 8 p.m.

A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)

[…]the doctor, as if to hear better, had taken off his powdered wig, and sat there, looking very strange indeed with his own close-cropped black poll.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

And you might perceive the president and general manager, Mr. R. G. Atterbury, with his priceless polished poll, busy in the main office room dictating letters..

The main plate is formed in two halves, the upper plate having small sideplates, ear guards, an escutcheon plate (blank), and a brass plume-holder, as well as a hinged poll plate.

2005, Stuart W. Pyhrr, Donald J. LaRocca, Dirk H. Breiding, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480-1620, Metropolitan Museum of Art, →ISBN, page 53:

(now rare outside veterinary contexts) The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.


landing strip

(idiomatic) A cultivated pubic hair pattern in which much of the pubic hair is removed, leaving only a central vertical line or rectangle.


whisker

Middle English wisker, whisk (verb) + -er

One of the long, projecting hairs growing at the sides of the mouth of a cat, or other animal.

snor

long projecting hair at the sides of the mouth of a cat

(nautical) Spreaders from the bows to spread the bowsprit shrouds.

(statistics) A graphic element that shows the maxima and minima in a box plot.

Whisker

a graphic element that shows the maxima and minima in a box plot

One who, or that which, whisks, or moves with a quick, sweeping motion.

(metallurgy) A small tendril that forms on metal.


crimper

From crimp + -er (agent noun suffix) or, for the climbing hold, + -er (patient suffix).

A small climbing hold that can only be held with the tips of a person's fingers.

A device for giving hair a wavy appearance.

A tool used to crimp, to join two pieces of metal.


pixie

Uncertain; 17thC, originally in the folklore of southwest England; perhaps diminutive of Swedish pysk (“fairy”); perhaps Puck + -sy; see Wikipedia.

Then a pixie appears in the visitor window, round face, big brown eyes framed in thick liner, a tiny turned-up nose, red lips, inch-long blue-black hair so popular with the avant-garde.

2006, Darnell Arnoult, Sufficient Grace, page 186:

Petite and narrow-waisted, with a pixie flip of hair the exact color of coffee beans, Abigail could easily pass for sixteen in a pair of ripped jeans and an Abercrombie T-shirt.

2009, Nicole Baart, The Moment Between, page 1:

Petite in the extreme, not even reaching five feet tall, Winchester at her most robust had approached one hundred pounds. No longer the bright-eyed, sophisticated pixie that Isaiah Taber had photographed so many years earlier, Winchester showed a different picture altogether as she lay dying, her fingers and toes knotted and knurled from years of destruction by the painful arthritis.

2010, Mary Jo Ignoffo, Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune, page 196:

Like magic, Carla transformed from the dainty pixie into a hardcore, no-nonsense businesswoman right before his eyes.

2011, L. E. Newell, Durty South Grind, page 138:

(slang) A cute, petite woman with short hair.

(astronomy, meteorology) An upper-atmospheric optical phenomenon associated with thunderstorms, a short-lasting pinpoint of light on the surface of convective domes that produces a gnome.

“Have you thought about a haircut? A pixie or a bob?”

2016, Susan Wiggs, Starlight on Willow Lake, page 114:

In a picture posted to Instagram on June 28, the stylish star [Lizzo] showed off her new, lighter brows and a blonde pixie that we suspect comes courtesy of a wig but can't be sure.

2021 June 29, Elizabeth Logan, “Lizzo Just Got a Blonde Pixie and Bleached Her Eyebrows”, in Glamour:


facial hair

From facial + hair. First use appears c. 1830, in the Morning Herald.

ཞལ་རྒྱན (zhal rgyan, literally “mouth-ornament”)

Her dark, arched eyebrows and soft facial hair complement the membranous leaves behind her.

1995 October 26, “Accent on Women's Art Latinas at two...”, in The Denver Post:

The Mbaya of the Amazon remove all facial hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows, and sneer at full-browed whites as "ostrich-brothers".

2000, Daniel McNeill, The Face: A Natural History, page 198:

Some tribes also practiced nose piercing, and men typically removed their eyelashes, eyebrows and facial hair through plucking.

2004, Mark Busby, The Southwest, page 152:

Because women naturally do not have a great deal of hair on their faces, it is considered a sign of femininity to have as little facial hair (except for eyebrows and eyelashes) as possible

2012, Margo DeMello, Faces Around the World: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the Human Face, page 134:

Hair on the face of a human, such as the eyebrows of a man or woman or the androgenic hair (beard or moustache) of a man.


fringe

From Middle English frenge, from Old French frenge, from Vulgar Latin *frimbia, a metathesis of Latin fimbriae (“fibers, threads, fringe”, plural), of uncertain origin. Compare German Franse and Danish frynse. Eclipsed native Middle English fnæd (“fringe”), Middle English byrd (“fringe”), Middle English fasel (“fringe”) from Old English fæs (“fringe”), and Old English fnæs (“fringe”). Doublet of fimbria.

der

Her fringe is so long it covers her eyes.

In a few minutes Mrs. Athelny appeared. She had taken her hair out of the curling pins and now wore an elaborate fringe.

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

Fayne in the photograph had a fringe, hair frizzed over hidden ears, sleeves over-ornate, the whole thing out of keeping.

1981, Hilda Doolittle, HERmione, page 155:

Ingeborg knew she wasn′t ready for fringes or short hair like some of the women she′d seen, and she hoped her daughter wasn′t either.
“No.” Astrid′s tone dismissed Sophie and the fringe as she galloped off to a new topic.

2007, Lauraine Snelling, Sophie's Dilemma, page 16:

Set against the seductive visual and textual imagery of these soft-focus fantasy worlds, the stock list details offer the reader a very real solution to achieving the look themselves, ‘Hair, including coloured fringes (obtainable from Joseph, £3.50) by Paul Nix’ (Baker 1972a: 68).

2009, Geraldine Biddle-Perry, Sarah Cheang, Hair: Styling, Culture and Fashion, page 231:

(UK) Synonym of bangs: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle where it is cut straight across.


hairdresser

A person who cuts or styles hair as an occupation or profession.

haarkapper

professional for haircutting or hairstyling

berber

a hairdresser who styles or cuts men's hair

kuaför

a hairdresser who styles or cuts women's hair


wigger

Blend of white + nigger. First use appears c. 1988. See cite below.

I have often heard the word "wigger" used to describe a white person who supposedly acts and talks "black," while the same type of taunting is put upon a black person who supposedly acts "white."

1988 April 20, “How race-conscious are high school students today?”, in The Washington Post, number ?, Washington, D.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, column ?:

To some extent wiggers are simply the most visible examples of a very American brand of teenage rebellion.

1999, Leonard Steinhorn et al., By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race, page 178:

And I just do not got the patience
To deal with these cocky Caucasians
Who think I'm some wigger who just tries to be black...

cultural appropriator
cultural appropriator

(derogatory, ethnic slur) A white person, typically young and male, considered to be overly infatuated with African-American or (UK) Afro-Caribbean culture, a cultural appropriator.


minge

From Angloromani mintš, from Romani minʒ (“female genitals”), probably from Old Armenian մէջ (mēǰ, “middle, midst; inside, interior; the middle part of the body; loins, reins; waist; belly, abdomen; back”). Doublet of medius.
Alternate etymology: from the Latin mingere (“to urinate”), synecdochically used to describe the organ through an associated function (possibly ironically or euphemistically).

Last week, she ended up on a binge / She got off her tits and showed the bouncers her minge

2005, “Your Missus Is A Nutter”, performed by Goldie Lookin Chain:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) The pubic hair and vulva.


fetlock

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

From Middle English fitlokes, feetlakkes pl, equivalent to foot + lock (“tuft of hair”). Cognate with Middle Low German fitlok, fitlock (“fetlock”), Dutch vitlok, vittelokke, vitslok, German Fissloch, Fisloch, Fislach (“fetlock; pastern”).

The tuft of hair that grows at this joint.


frizzy

en-adj

frizzy (comparative frizzier, superlative frizziest)

frizzier (comparative)
frizziest (superlative)

The wet weather made her hair frizzy and untidy.

Formed of a mass of small, tight, wiry curls; unruly or extending in all directions.

къдрав

formed of a mass of small, tight, wiry curls


bald-headed

bald-headed (comparative more bald-headed, superlative most bald-headed)

more bald-headed (comparative)
most bald-headed (superlative)


frizz

en-verb

frizz (third-person singular simple present frizzes, present participle frizzing, simple past and past participle frizzed)

frizzes (present singular third-person)
frizzing (participle present)
frizzed (participle past)
frizzed (past)

From Middle English frysen, from Old French friser, frizer (“to frizzle, crisp, curl, ruffle, braid, touch lightly, graze, scratch”), of Proto-Germanic origin, perhaps via Old Frankish *fris (“curl”), from Proto-Germanic *frisaz (“frizzy, curly”). Cognate with Old Frisian frisle, frēsle ("the hair of the head, lock of hair, curl, ringlet"; > North Frisian friessle, fressle (“hair, horse's tail”), West Frisian frisseljen (“braid of hair, braid”)), Old English frīs (“crisped, curled”).

gloss

(intransitive) Of hair, to form into a mass of tight curls.

with her hair frized short up to her ears

1660 December 2 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “November 22nd, 1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC:

In labour-saving homes, with care, / Their wives frizz out peroxide hair.

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; […]

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

To form into little burs, knobs, or tufts, as the nap of cloth.

nukkaantua

to form into little burs, knobs, or tufts, as the nap of cloth


frizz

en-noun

frizz (countable and uncountable, plural frizzes)

From Middle English fryse, from the verb. See above.

A mass of tightly curled or unruly hair.


furry

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-furry.wav

What percentage of furries are wolves?

An animal character with human-like characteristics; most commonly refers to such characters created by members of the furry subculture.

獸 /兽

Someone who identifies with or as a furry character.

(informal, slang) Someone who is sexually attracted to anthropomorphic animal characters.


fuzz

fuzz (countable and uncountable, plural fuzzes)

Uncertain. Some dictionaries suggest a Germanic source; compare Low German fussig (“loose; spongy”), Dutch voos (“unsound; rotten”). Others, such as Webster's New College Dictionary, suggest a back-formation from fuzzy. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests, “Perhaps imitative of the action of blowing away light particles.”

onomatopoeic

imitative

His cheeks were like peaches, with much the same sort of fuzz over them.

1895, Hamlin Garland, Rose of Dutcher's Coolly, page 352:

Once the eaglets are born—tiny balls of white fuzz—the adult eagles prove that birds can be as protective and solicitous of their young as humans.

1962 July 16, Richard Petrow, “Last chance to save the Bald Eagle”, in Popular Science, volume 181, number 1, →ISSN, page 192:

"Fuzz testing" or "fuzzing" is a technique for software testing that provides random data ("fuzz") to the inputs of a program.

2008, Asoke Talukder, Manish Chaitanya, Architecting Secure Software Systems, Boca Raton: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 94:

(computing) The random data used in fuzz testing.


fuzz

en-verb

fuzz (third-person singular simple present fuzzes, present participle fuzzing, simple past and past participle fuzzed)

fuzzes (present singular third-person)
fuzzing (participle present)
fuzzed (participle past)
fuzzed (past)

onomatopoeic

imitative

(intransitive, dated) To fly off in minute particles with a fizzing sound, like water from hot metal.


bad hair day

Audrey Hepburn
Laurence Olivier
The Daily Telegraph

Said to have been coined by British trichologist Philip Kingsley (1930–2016).

Okay, girls, here's the plan. I'll call Jerry and tell him we need to get to Tahiti A.S.A.P. Clover, you free the Bees and restore their memories. Alex, you figure out how to put an end to this very, very, very bad hair day.

2002 March 23, Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, “The Black Widows”, in Totally Spies!, season 1, episode 16, spoken by Samantha “Sam” (Jennifer Hale), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:

(literally) A day when one's hair seems unmanageable.


tassel

From Middle English tassel, from Old French tassel, from Latin taxillus (“small cube”), from tālus (“ankle”).

(botany) The panicle on a male plant of maize, which consists of loose threads with anthers on them.


haired

en-adj

haired (comparative more haired, superlative most haired)

more haired (comparative)
most haired (superlative)

From Middle English hered, equivalent to hair + -ed. Compare Dutch behaard (“haired”), German behaart (“haired”).

It was pointed at the tip, and whilst its dorsum was haired the opposite surface was hairless, hollowed out into a concha and directed forwards and outwards.

1888, Charles Wyville Thomson, Sir John Murray, Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger, page 40:

He made only one exception: our big rangy Llewellin setter named Frank, a blue-ticked genius that knew integral calculus where quail were concerned, and was haired almost as thinly as a pointer.

1993, Robert Ruark, The Old Man's Boy Grows Older, page 205:

Their tails are both indistinctly bicolored, but N. picta has a thinner and more haired tail.

2014, Gerardo Ceballos, Mammals of Mexico, page 306:

Bearing one's own hair as grown and yet attached; neither bald nor hairless.


dead end

Cut the ends of the hair once a month certain — no matter if you do cut but just the tips of a fourth of an inch, cut it. Cut off the dead ends every month as regularly as the new moon comes round.

1890, The Young Lady's Private Counselor, page 208:


flip

en-verb

flip (third-person singular simple present flips, present participle flipping, simple past and past participle flipped)

flips (present singular third-person)
flipping (participle present)
flipped (participle past)
flipped (past)

Alteration of earlier fillip, from Middle English filippen (“to make a signal or sound with thumb and right forefinger, snap the fingers”), an attenuated variation of flappen (“to flap, clap, slap, strike”). Cognate with Dutch flappen (“to flap”), German flappen (“to flap”).

inh

The mafioso flipped on his superiors to get a lighter sentence.

(intransitive, US) To turn state's evidence; to agree to testify against one's co-conspirators in exchange for concessions from prosecutors.

The district attorney was able to strengthen his case against the bank robber by flipping the getaway driver.

(transitive, US) To induce someone to turn state's evidence; to get someone to agree to testify against their co-conspirators in exchange for concessions.


widow's peak

en-noun

widow's peak (plural widow's peaks or widows' peaks)

widow's peaks (plural)
widows' peaks (plural)

“I like your hair,” Grace said, gently pulling at the clump standing armed sentinel over my widow's peak. “It's honest.”

2010, Gary Shteyngart, Super Sad True Love Story, Random House, →ISBN, page 154:

A descending V-shaped point in the hairline in the middle of the forehead.


undercut

From Middle English undercutten, equivalent to under- + cut.


foxy

en-adj

foxy (comparative foxier, superlative foxiest)

foxier (comparative)
foxiest (superlative)


back, crack and sack

en-noun

back, crack and sack (plural back, crack and sacks)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-back, crack and sack.wav

(informal) A beauty treatment for men in which hair is removed from the back, from between the buttocks ("crack") and from the scrotum ("sack").


pubes

From Latin pubes (“the hair which appears on the body at the age of puberty, the genitals”), from pubes, puber (“grown up, of mature age; of plants, downy, pubescent”); see puberty.


cock-up

And I'm sorry for all the cock-ups, my cabinet are absolute crap. We'll have to do better next year.

2003, Richard Curtis, Love Actually, spoken by Prime Minister (Hugh Grant):

In over a quarter of a century of writing this column, there has been no end of scandals, mishaps, errors and general cock-ups resulting from ministerial incompetence.

2023 November 15, Christian Wolmar, “Ministers should carry the can for ticket office fiasco”, in RAIL, number 996, page 46:

(Commonwealth, mildly vulgar slang) A mistake.

The first word of every section or chapter is generally put in small capitals, after a small neat cock-up letter.

1824, John Johnson, Typographia, volume 2, page 33:

(obsolete, UK, Ireland, printers' slang) A superior letter. A lower-case letter placed above the baseline and made smaller than ordinary script; traditionally used in abbreviations.

Cockernonie, a gathering up of the hair of women, after a fashion similar to that of the modern "chignon," and sometimes called a "cock-up." Mr. Kirkton, of Edinburgh, preaching against "cock-ups"—of which chignons were the representatives a quarter of a century ago—said: "I have been all this year preaching against the vanity of women, yet I see my own daughter in the kirk even now with as high a 'cock-up' as any one of you all."

1888, Charles Mackay, A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch, page 30:

(obsolete, Scotland) A roll or twist of hair worn at the nape of the neck; a bun.


pubic hair

en-noun

pubic hair (countable and uncountable, plural pubic hairs)

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

(slang, also "excessive body hair") волосня́ f (volosnjá)

The method of the root's use was pure sorcery; the powder being burned over a fire, with some of the operator's pubic hair and characteristic secretions.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 161:

Negroes (teeth, fingers, toe nails and pubic hair gilded), Japanese boys smooth and white as china, Titian-haired Venetian lads, Americans with blond or black curls falling across the forehead (the guests tenderly shove it back), sulky blond Polacks with animal brown eyes, Arab and Spanish street boys, Austrian boys pink and delicate with a faint shadow of blond pubic hair, sneering German youths with bright blue eyes scream "Heil Hitler!" as the trap falls under them. Sollubis shit and whimper.

1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 79:

It’s true. He’s become known there as the “Brazilian Trump”, which is both politically worrisome and also the grossest style to order at a pubic hair salon. “Oh, I’ll take the Brazilian Trump, please! I-It’s where you rip everything off the front area, but you comb some arse hair around to give the illusion of hair.”

2018, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Brazilian Elections”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 5, episode 25, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:

(collectively) The hair that grows in the pubic region from puberty.


pogonotrophy

/ˌpoʊɡəˈnɑtɹəfi/

The act of cultivating, or growing and grooming, a mustache, beard, sideburns or other facial hair.


duck's arse

(British, Ireland, informal, vulgar) A hairstyle in which the hair is swept back along the sides of the head to meet in a point at the back, thus resembling a duck as seen from behind.


ducktail

A hairstyle in which the hair is swept back into an upturned point at the back.


barbering

(informal) The practice among pets of overgrooming each other, leaving bald patches.


pilose

en-adj

pilose (comparative more pilose, superlative most pilose)

more pilose (comparative)
most pilose (superlative)

From Latin pilōsus, from pilus (“hair”).

An icy chill runs down the back of your exoskeleton as the name enters your mind, your very animus shuddering at the sound of it. Something about its form, its essence… it is far too lissom. Too pilose. Too disturbingly… feline.

2024, Kazerad, Enter name, in: Prequel -or- Making a Cat Cry: The Adventure (webcomic), October 11 2024


glib

Whom when she saw in wretched weedes disguiz'd, / With heary glib deform'd and meiger face, / Like ghost late risen from his grave agryz'd, / She knew him not […]

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

The Irish have, from the Scythians, mantles and long glibs, which is a thick curled bush of hair hanging down over their eyes, and monstrously disguising them.

1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

Their wild costume of the glib and mantle.

1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More, or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society:

But in the dead of njight, who should come in but James Desmond, sword in hand, with a dozen of his ruffians at his heels, each with his glib over his ugly face, and his skene in his hand.

1855, Charles Kingsley, “Clovelly Court in the Olden Time”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume I, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 163:

(historical) A mass of matted hair worn down over the eyes, formerly common in Ireland.


puberulent

puberulent (comparative more puberulent, superlative most puberulent)

more puberulent (comparative)
most puberulent (superlative)

From the Latin puberulentus, see puber (“downy, adult”), -ulentus (“abounding in”).


Croydon facelift

en-noun

Croydon facelift (plural Croydon facelifts)

From Croydon, a Borough of London + facelift.

We climb in, and I plaster my Little House on the Prairie-style cloth hat over my hair so the greasy strands won't get yanked back into a Croydon facelift as I pull on my helmet.

2010, Charlotte Madison, Dressed to Kill, unnumbered page:

Everyone stopped drinking to have a look. A girl with a Croydon facelift hairdo and a sequinned tank top began hyperventilating noisily.

2013, e.c. saunders, Kat Among the Pigeons: A Kat Shakespeare Mystery, page 81:

All of which could explain why, when I had my hair styled in a tight ponytail for the shoot accompanying this feature, most people who saw me thought I looked "unapproachable" (which might simply be a polite way of saying: "You looked like you had a rattail and a Croydon facelift").

2013 July 28, Elizabeth Day, The Observer:

(British slang, derogatory) A women's hairstyle, associated with lower social classes, in which the hair is pulled tightly back from the face and fastened behind the head, thus pulling the features up and back and giving an effect similar to a facelift.


follicly challenged

en-adj

follicly challenged (comparative more follicly challenged, superlative most follicly challenged)

more follicly challenged (comparative)
most follicly challenged (superlative)

From follicle + -ly, as if follicle were an adjective, and challenged.

(humorous, euphemistic, of a person) Bald or going bald.


afro

From Afro-. In relation to the sense 2, see latino and anglo.

The Ghanaian government employed several Afros, as many of the expatriates called themselves, downplaying their Americanness, in ideological and infrastructure-building occupations.

2012, Kevin K. Gates, American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era, University of North Carolina Press (2006), pages 142–143:

At the height of the American civil rights agitation, a number of members of the Black Panther movement moved to Tanzania, and lived outside Arusha where they formed a community, calling themselves ‘’Afros.’’

2022, Beatrice Materu, “The African Americans who chose to return to Africa”, in The EastAfrican, page 1:

Afrodescendants (or simply Afros) are the descendants of Africans who were dispersed.

2022, Jun Takahara, “Say It Loud — I’m Afro and I’m Proud: Why we need to replace our racial identity labels with (pan-)ethnic ones”, in Medium, page 1:


carrot top

The actress is known for her carrot top.

(informal, derogatory) A person with red hair; a redhead.


platinum blond

en-noun

platinum blond (countable and uncountable, plural platinum blonds)


titian

en-adj

titian (comparative more titian, superlative most titian)

more titian (comparative)
most titian (superlative)

Named after Titian (Italian Tiziano), the Italian painter who made frequent use of this colour.

lang

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">Titian</i>

Of a bright auburn colour, tinted with gold, especially in reference to hair.


trim

en-verb

trim (third-person singular simple present trims, present participle trimming, simple past and past participle trimmed)

trims (present singular third-person)
trimming (participle present)
trimmed (participle past)
trimmed (past)

From Middle English trimen, trymen, trümen, from Old English trymman (“to make firm; strengthen”), from Proto-West Germanic *trummjan, from Proto-Germanic *trumjaną (“to make fast; strengthen”), from Proto-Germanic *trumaz (“firm; strong; sound”).

tasapainottaa

to modify the angle of a ship relative to the water

(transitive, aviation, of an aircraft) To adjust the positions of control surfaces, sometimes using trim tabs, so as to modify or eliminate the aircraft's tendency to pitch, roll, or yaw when the cockpit controls are released.

уравновесявам

to adjust the positions of control surfaces, sometimes using trim tabs


trim

en-noun

trim (countable and uncountable, plural trims)

varustelutaso

the manner in which something is equipped

I went to the hairdresser for a trim but came back nearly bald.

(countable) A haircut, especially a moderate one to touch up an existing style.

(uncountable, aviation, of an aircraft) The state of adjustment of control surfaces such that the desired attitude can be maintained without requiring the continuous application of force to the cockpit controls.

compensation

the state of adjustment of control surfaces such that the desired attitude can be maintained


escutcheon

/ɪˈskʌt͡ʃən/

From Middle English scochon, from Anglo-Norman escuchon, Old French escusson (French écusson), ultimately from Latin scutum (“shield”). Related to scutum, scute, scudo, escudo, and écu.

(medicine) The pattern of distribution of hair upon the pubic mound.


centre parting

hairstyle where the hair is separated down the middle.


hairpin

→ Japanese: ヘアピン

From hair + pin, 1788 (as hair pin). Adjective sense 1906 in hairpin turn etc.

(biology) A kind of ribozyme; hairpin ribozyme.


Red

A nickname given to someone who has or had red hair.


Spike

From spike, perhaps a nickname for a tall, thin person.

A surname transferred from the nickname.


TWA

Trans World Airlines
w:Trans World Airlines


TWA

1956 "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (Lyrics) - Chuck Berry
Flying across the desert in a TWA, / I saw a woman walking across the sand / She been a-walkin' thirty miles en route to Bombay. / To get a brown-eyed handsome man


mop head

The end of a mop, to which the thrums or rags are fastened.

A type of thick rounded haircut similar to that worn by the Beatles in the early 1960s.

(derogatory) A person with unkempt hair that stands away from the head.


hairball

A small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming.


hog

en-verb

hog (third-person singular simple present hogs, present participle hogging, simple past and past participle hogged)

hogs (present singular third-person)
hogging (participle present)
hogged (participle past)
hogged (past)

From Middle English hog, from Old English hogg, hocg (“hog”), possibly from Old Norse hǫggva (“to strike, chop, cut”), from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną (“to hew, forge”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- (“to beat, hew, forge”).
Cognate with Old High German houwan, Old Saxon hauwan, Old English hēawan (English hew). Hog originally meant a castrated male pig, hence a sense of “the cut one”. (Compare hogget for a castrated male sheep.) More at hew.
Alternatively from a Brythonic language, from Proto-Celtic *sukkos, from Proto-Indo-European *suH- and thus cognate with Welsh hwch (“sow”) and Cornish hogh (“pig”).

der

Some, perhaps, would wish to plait or shave the tail and crimp or hog the mane to complete the picture.

1880, William Day, The Racehorse in Training:

(transitive) To clip the mane of a horse, making it short and bristly.

ко́ротко подстригать

to clip the mane of a horse, making it short and bristly

(machining) To take a rough cut, quickly removing material; to hog out.


upsweep

(oceanography) The unidentified sound detected on the American NOAA's equatorial autonomous hydrophone arrays, consisting of a long train of narrow-band upsweeping sounds of several seconds in duration.


curling iron

A heated cylindrical device for curling the hair.

كلَابَات اَلتَّمْوِيج

a heated cylindrical device for curling the hair


buckle

en-noun

buckle (countable and uncountable, plural buckles)

Origin uncertain. Probably from Middle English bokelen (“to arch the body”), from Middle French boucler (“to bulge”, literally “to take the shape of a shield boss”), from the same ultimate origin as Etymology 1 above. In some senses, possibly from buck (“to bend, yield, buckle”) + -le (frequentative suffix).

suf

(countable) A distortion; a bend, bulge, or kink.

(roofing) An upward, elongated displacement of a roof membrane, frequently occurring over deck joints or insulation, which may indicate movement of the roof assembly.


unibrow

Actually - the unibrow look was never in.

2008, Insults and Comebacks, Venice, California: Knock Knock, page 24:

A pair of eyebrows which meet in the middle.


horsehair

en-noun

horsehair (countable and uncountable, plural horsehairs)

From Middle English hors her, horshere, hors-here, hors heer (also hors-hore), equivalent to horse + hair. Compare Old Norse hross-hár (“horsehair”).

The hair of a horse, especially from the mane and tail, used for upholstery.


peroxide blonde

peroxide blonde (plural peroxide blondes)

Coordinate term: peroxide blond

A person, especially a woman, who bleaches their hair extremely white-blonde.


friseur

From French friseur, from friser (“to curl, frizz”).

As for poor Owen, could the bob-wig which he then wore have uncurled itself, and stood on end with horror, I am convinced the morning's labour of the friseur would have been undone, merely by the excess of his astonishment at this enormity.

1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter II, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 35:


dumb blonde

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

Have you found the canonical list of dumb blonde jokes on the Internet yet?

My friends say she's a dumb blonde but they don't know she dyes her hair.

(derogatory) A common stereotype of a blonde as a woman with low intelligence.


Fu Manchu

The first book with the character was The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, from 1913.


split end

I've got so many split ends – I think I must be working too hard.

A hair which has split at the end, usually from dryness or poor nutrition.

Help! I've got split ends!

(in the plural) The condition of having hairs with split ends.

Jones played split end.

offensive line of scrimmage
offensive line of scrimmage

(American football) The position which lines up wide and on the offensive line of scrimmage, whose primary job is to serve as a wide receiver.

The split end ran deep.

(American football) A player playing the position of split end.


trammel

From Middle English trameyle, from Old French tramail (“net for catching fish”), from Late Latin tremaculum, from tri- (“tri-”) + macula (“spot, speck; mesh, cell”). Cognate with Italian tramaglio (“trammel”), Spanish trasmallo (“drift net”).


seta

setas (plural)
setae (plural)
setæ (plural)

From Latin seta, from saeta. Doublet of soy (“silk”).

The setal arrangement in Puncia therefore could represent an evolutionary intermediate step appropriate to a wide-gaped ostracod, in which a domiciliar 'early warning' system is afforded by the frill and extremely long setae.

1991, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum - Volumes 31-32, page 83:


parting

en-noun

parting (countable and uncountable, plural partings)

The parting of the way.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 21:21:

Bridge End is the border station and the scene of many a sad parting between enterprising shoppers and their purchases—for it is a stronghold of the Customs !—and half an hour is allowed in the timetable for examination and shunting.

1949 November and December, K. Longbottom, “By Goods Train to Gweedore”, in Railway Magazine, page 353:


rug

Uncertain; probably of North Germanic origin; perhaps inherited via Middle English *rugge (suggested by Middle English ruggy (“hairy, shaggy, bristly”) and rugged (“hairy, shaggy, rugged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“shagginess, tuft”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwō (“long wool”), probably related to *rūhaz (“rough”), related to English rag and rough.
Cognate with dialectal Norwegian rugga (“coarse coverlet”), Swedish rugg (“rough entangled hair”), related to English rag and rough. Compare also Old English rȳhe (“rug, rough covering, blanket”).


naps

The short “naps” of the average Sister do not sway in the wind as that of a blonde.

2009, Rajen Persaud, Why Black Men Love White Women, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 171:


merm

(hairdressing, informal) A permanent for a man.


strawberry blonde

en-adj

strawberry blonde (comparative more strawberry blonde, superlative most strawberry blonde)

more strawberry blonde (comparative)
most strawberry blonde (superlative)

strawberry blonde:

An uncommon orange hair colour; it is characterized as a combination of pale light yellow (often called blonde) and red. Strawberry blonde hair appears blonde in dim light, but when exposed to sun or a bright light, the hair may assume a slight tinge of pink or red color.


strawberry blonde

en-noun

strawberry blonde (plural strawberry blondes)

A cocktail comprising one part vodka to two parts cherry brandy to three parts cola topped with a dash of cream and stirred gently with a swizzle stick before serving.


buzzcut

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

(US, Canada) A closely-cropped military-style haircut.


stubble

stubble (usually uncountable, plural stubbles)

From Middle English stuble, from Anglo-Norman stuble, estuble, from Old French estoble, esteule (whence Modern French éteule), from Latin stipula (“stalk, straw”). Cognate with Dutch stoppel, Central German Stoppel, Upper German Stupfel.

(countable and uncountable) Short, coarse hair, especially on a man’s face.


unshaven

He was an unshaven little man in a threadbare coat like a gaberdine, with his feet in slippers, and I thought him a harmless fool.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 201:

She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had expected to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven, burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 2:

Not having shaved; not shaven; untrimmed.


follicle

He could feel the follicles in his inner ear go crazy.

1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 345:

(anatomy) A small cavity or sac, such as a hair follicle.


bleached

en-adj

bleached (comparative more bleached, superlative most bleached)

more bleached (comparative)
most bleached (superlative)

bleached cotton


brunet

From French brunet. Compare also Middle English brunet, burnet (“brown”), from Old French brunet, which is the same word.

(rare) Of a man or boy, having brown or dark brown hair.


egghead

But at the top of the "egghead", the blood vessels become pinched and the flow is blocked.

1962, The Pakistan Review - Volume 10, page Page 43:

At one point he even lifts his cap to reveal an egghead bald-cap atop white hair and spectacles.

2002, Robert Ross, The Complete Terry Thomas, page 87:

Many shave their entire head at the first sign of hair loss, believing that chicks prefer an egghead to a comb-over.

2010, Jena Pincott, Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?:, page 81:

His shoulders were so misshapen they almost met over his sunken chest and they were topped by a pointy egghead, bald but for a few short sproutings of hair.


male pattern baldness

(dermatology) A genetically predisposed loss of hair from the scalp in males, theorized to be caused by an excessive response to androgens, specifically dihydrotestosterone.


weft

From Middle English wefte, from Old English wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban, from Proto-Germanic *webaną. Equivalent to weave + -th.

Teaching tools include mannequins, slip-ons, hair wefts, rectangles, and profiles.

2009, Cosmetologists: 150 Great Tech Prep Careers, 2nd edition, page 135:

Then, she held up the hair as it would look on my head. She positioned it like a pro, holding wefts of human hair so that it looked like it grew from my scalp.

2011, Ryan Rayston, The Quiet Sound of Disappearing, AuthorHouse, page 289:

In the bonding method of attaching hair extensions, hair wefts or single strands are attached with an adhesive or bonding agent. The adhesive is applied to the weft with an applicator gun.

2012, Cengage Learning, Milady Standard Cosmetology, page 556:

(hairdressing) A hair extension that is glued directly to a person′s natural hair.


backcomb

en-verb

backcomb (third-person singular simple present backcombs, present participle backcombing, simple past and past participle backcombed)

backcombs (present singular third-person)
backcombing (participle present)
backcombed (participle past)
backcombed (past)

Her dark-blonde hair, worn long at Oxford, had been cut and backcombed, Diana-style, and quivered when she shook her head.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 5, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

To hold hair and comb it towards the head, thus giving it a bushier look.

toupieren

to hold hair and comb it towards the head


backcomb

You and your fit friends anyway / I'd take them all out any day / They all got backcombs anyway


fur burger

Oh you haven't lived till you've had a nibble on a fur burger!

2001 August 16, John Duffey, reply in "She will be mine...", alt.babylon5.uk http://groups.google.com/group/alt.babylon5.uk/browse_thread/thread/6e8822e3fbfe55d9/afd6b1ea25897fe9?lnk=st&q=%22fur-burger%22&rnum=120#afd6b1ea25897fe9

Tonight I want to eat your fur-burger and I do not care about getting glazed

2002, Elvis F. Mitchell, The Voices of the Oppressed, iUniverse, page 85

Now, slowly and not to obviously, you cross your legs and give them a quick glance at your little fur-burger.

2007, Karl Rockwood, The Very Private Secretary, Blackmask Online, page 95

(slang, usually in the context of cunnilingus): An unshaven, hairy vulva.


bearded

From Middle English berded, from Old English ġebearded, ġebeardede, ġebierd, ġebierde (“bearded”), from Proto-Germanic *bardōdaz (“bearded”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰéh₂tos (“bearded”), equivalent to beard + -ed. Cognate with Dutch bebaarde (“bearded”), Middle Low German bārt (“bearded”), archaic German gebartet (“bearded”).

The herbaceous perennial irises benefit from at least one feeding a year in early spring as growth begins. Siberian and Japanese irises appreciate a second feeding just as the flowers fade. Beardeds do best with a second feeding in late summer.

2017, Barbara W. Ellis, “Iris: Irises”, in Taylor's Guide to Growing North America's Favorite Plants: Proven Perennials, Annuals, Flowering Trees, Shrubs, & Vines for Every Garden, New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 181:

(informal, botany, horticulture) A bearded iris.


volumizer

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

(bodybuilding) A dietary supplement that increases water uptake in muscle cells, causing the muscles to temporarily swell.


hairpiece

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

A false substitute for a person's hair; a toupee or wig.


syrup of figs

en-noun

syrup of figs (countable and uncountable, plural syrups of figs)

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

(Cockney rhyming slang, countable) A wig.


CBD

CBD (countable and uncountable, plural CBDs or CBD's)

(hairdressing) Initialism of cut and blow-dry.


coiffure

en-verb

coiffure (third-person singular simple present coiffures, present participle coiffuring, simple past and past participle coiffured)

coiffures (present singular third-person)
coiffuring (participle present)
coiffured (participle past)
coiffured (past)

Perfectly coiffured and seemingly imperturbable, Setsuko approaches madness as her psychological and sexual insecurities are dredged up by confrontations with her past and mind games with the suspected murderer.

1996 August 23, Ted Shen, “Angel Dust”, in Chicago Reader:

Her eyes seldom left for long the other end of the table, where Stephanie, at Dominey's left hand, with her crown of exquisitely coiffured red-gold hair, her marvellous jewellery, her languorous grace of manner, seemed more like one of the beauties of an ancient Venetian Court than a modern Hungarian Princess gowned in the Rue de la Paix.

1920, E. Phillips Oppenheim, The Great Impersonation:

Her hair was far less elaborately coiffured and her toilette less magnificent than the toilettes of the women by whom she was surrounded.

1915, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo:

Her attire is rich, she wears costly jewels, and her hair is tastefully coiffured.

1842, Edgcumbe Staley, The Tragedies of the Medici:


blowout

Feathers were deeply ruffled when it became known that the BHC had been in town and taken me out for a meal without hosting a big blowout for all the local Brits. I didn't frequent the hotel bar, and by then, accepted few invitations to parties ...

2015, Trish Nicholson, Inside the Crocodile: The Papua New Guinea Journals, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN:

Chloe's lips formed a thin line, and she guided her sister a few feet away from Aubrey and Erik, her hooker heels sinking into the shells a little as they went. "C'mon, Jane. Erik's cousin is a Barnie and is hosting a blowout tonight. The party is in Salem"

2016, Blayne Cooper, Blind Side of the Moon, Bella Books, →ISBN:

(slang) A social function, especially one with large quantities of food.

An act of defecation in which an incontinent person, usually an infant or toddler, produces a large amount of excrement that causes their diaper to overflow and leak.

An unsightly flap of skin caused by an ear piercing that is too large.

Get a blowout! Your hair is one of the first things a guy will notice because, hello, it's right at eye level. So take the time to do it right. No ponytails. No frizzy disasters. Wear your hair down.

2007, Janis Spindel, How to Date Men: Dating Secrets from America's Top Matchmaker, Penguin, →ISBN, page 55:

I mean, how did the African sista' who was getting her hair braided in the first movie get a blowout? And the slave trader's shirt wasn't even right! And the look on the African woman's face when she was watching the white ladies pet her "friend" ...

2011, Donna Kakonge, PhD Student, The Politics of Black Hair Online Coursebook, →ISBN:

A couple of weeks later, I contacted Melissa to get a blowout for my hair because I was going to New York for an interview but I had to be in the city early in the morning. Melissa said I could come to her condo the night before the event.

2017, Anysia Marcell Kiel, Discovering the Healer Within: Use Chakras & Intuition to Clear Negativity & Release Pain, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN:

Go to your local salon and get a blowout. Or put a blue streak in your hair. Or if you're commitment-phobic, get a temporary blue extension braided into your hair.

2019, Susan Hyatt, Bare: A 7-Week Program to Transform Your Body, Get More Energy, Feel Amazing, and Become the Bravest, Most Unstoppable Version of You, BenBella Books, →ISBN:

An instance of having one's hair blow-dried and styled.


fauxhawk

An imitation of the Mohawk hairstyle in which a central tuft is created using gel without having to shave the sides of the head.


pigtail

[I]t was something that every schoolboy of my generation almost `had' to do, as obligatory a proof of impending manliness as scrumping apples or pulling girls' pigtails.

2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 12:

(now especially) Either of a pair of braids or tails worn on the sides of the head.


chonmage

That the actors portraying samurai wear headpieces in the traditional “chonmage” style, in which a ponytail is folded back over the top of the head, creates a sense of androgynous uniformity. (Mitsuteru Okuyama did the wigs.)

2022 October 24, Elisabeth Vincentelli, “‘Chushingura — 47 Ronin’ Review: A Sprawling Tale of Loyalty”, in The New York Times:

A traditional Japanese topknot haircut worn by men, traditionally associated with samurai and more recently with sumo wrestlers.


oichomage

From Japanese 大銀杏髷 (oo-ichō-mage, literally “gingko topknot”).

bor

(sumo) The elaborate hairstyle, resembling a gingko leaf, worn by sekitori during bouts and on ceremonial occasions.


Bluey

He was a freckled red-haired boy called Bluey.

1999, Louis Nowra, The Twelfth of Never, page 228:

Bluey, who of course was a redhead, started out surfing on his mom's ironing board when he was a grommet of six years of age.

2009, Duke Boyd, Jeff Divine, Steve Pezman, Legends of Surfing: The Greatest Surfriders from Duke Kahanamoku to Kelly Slater, page 24:

A smile spread slowly across Bluey′s red-whiskered face as the boy went to find his hoe, the one Dad had given him to start a garden in the bush.

2010, Jeff McMullen, A Life of Extremes, unnumbered page:

(Australia, slang) A nickname commonly given to a red-headed person.


topknot

A small European flounder (Phrynorhombus regius, syn. Rhombus punctatus).


bloodnut

He was a pugnacious bloodnut with a droll wit and a rollup fag on his lip.

“Red” his mates called him: a wild bloodnut like his father, and like his late uncles before Tobruk sands claimed them.

2006, Bill Collopy, House of Given, page 13:

He looked younger, thinner, was pale and unshaven, the image of a man on a bender, complete with a red-haired partner in crime.
‘I say, Howard, your chief chemist would look ree-mahr-kable on a polo pony, don′t think?’ said the bloodnut, who reeked of alcohol and stale tobacco.

2011, Christopher Kremmer, The Chase, unnumbered page:

(Australia, informal) A person with red hair, a redhead.


crew cut

A closely-cropped haircut in which the hairs stick upward, like the short bristles of a brush.


bouffant

From French bouffant, from Middle French; present participle of bouffer (“to puff”). Doublet of buffont.

Mother went a little pale. “Preposterous!” she said. “I don’t know what’s got into you!” She fiddled with her bouffant, almost as if she was nervous.

2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

But by the early 1980s the energy had largely drained from the punk movement, giving way to the synthesizers, eyeliner and bouffants of so-called New Romantic bands like Duran Duran and Adam and the Ants.

2023 November 30, Matt Phillips, “Shane MacGowan, Songwriter Who Fused Punk and Irish Rebellion, Is Dead at 65”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A puffy, round hairstyle, popular in the mid-to-late 16th century, characterized by hair raised high on the head and usually covering the ears or hanging down on the sides.


mousse

en-noun

mousse (countable and uncountable, plural mousses)

→ Irish: mús

From French mousse (“foam, froth”), from Old French mosse (“moss”), from Frankish or Old Dutch *mosa (“moss”), from Proto-Germanic *musą (“moss, bog, marsh”). More at moss.

der

An airy pudding served chilled, particularly chocolate mousse.

He slicked his hair back with mousse, but the cowlick still stuck up.

Pretreatment of oil or sea water with dispersants or demulsifiers generally inhibits laboratory mousse formation with most of the oils and petroleum products tested (Berridge et al. , 1968b; Bridie et al. , 1980a,b).

1987, D.F. Boesch, N.N. Rabalais, Long-term Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil and Gas Development, →ISBN:

A number of investigators have shown that the starting composition of a parent oil can have a major influence on its predisposittion to form stable water-in-oil emulsions (mousse). For example, the presence of natural surfactants in the wax, resin, and asphaltene fractions of oils has been positively correlated with the tendency to form mousse.

1993, John R. Clayton, James R. Payne, John S. Farlow, Oil Spill Dispersants: Mechanisms of Action and Laboratory Tests, →ISBN, page 21:

When it washed ashore in Prince William Sound, the crude came in sticky gobs, in tar balls, in what they called mousse, crude whipped to a froth in the action of the sea.

1994, Dana Stabenow, A Cold-Blooded Business, →ISBN, page 50:

However, the sticky mousse clogged all of the skimmers, even the Vaydaghubsky. If all these skimmers had been on-site during the first three days of calm weather, before the oil was churned into mousse, they could have made a real difference

2009, Elspeth Leacock, The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, →ISBN, page 37:

A stable emulsion of water and oil that is created by wave action churning the water where an oil spill occurs.


mousse

en-verb

mousse (third-person singular simple present mousses, present participle moussing, simple past and past participle moussed)

mousses (present singular third-person)
moussing (participle present)
moussed (participle past)
moussed (past)

He moussed his hair in the morning and then washed it out at night.


crinal

Their hair belonged to some middle crinal zone between aseptic nord and latitudinarian jetwalled lousehouse.

1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament:


lanugo

en-noun

lanugo (countable and uncountable, plural lanugos)

/ləˈnjuːɡəʊ/

From the presence of the woolly hair or lanugo on the human fœtus, and of rudimentary hairs scattered over the body during maturity, we may infer that man is descended from some animal which was born hairy and remained so during life.

1874, Charles Darwin, “Chaper XX”, in The Descent of Man:

[…] early spring mountains with young-elephant lanugo along their spines […]

Soft down or fine hair, specifically that covering the human foetus or a tumorous area.


hairline

It's just a receding hairline — it's not like you're going bald.

Using a Danish technique, doctors can now insert plugs of just one or two hairs in front of an implanted area to simulate a natural hairline.

1984 May 28, Claudia Wallis, “Gone Today, but Hair Tomorrow”, in Time:

The line along one's forehead where hair starts growing.

hiusraja

the line along one's forehead where hair starts growing

A very thin line in writing, drawing, or typography.

While inspecting the new house, we found a few hairlines in one of the walls.

Yup, you got a crack in it [the cylinder head] all right. Just a hairline, but that damn thing is gonna cause a big headache later.

2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 102: