tress
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]tress (plural tresses)
- A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet.
- 1910, Theodore C. Williams, The Aeneid, translation of Aeneis by Virgil, Book IV Chapter 28:
- 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.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 397:
- 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.
- A long lock of hair.
- (by extension) A knot or festoon, as of flowers.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet
|
Verb
[edit]tress (third-person singular simple present tresses, present participle tressing, simple past and past participle tressed)
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛs
- Rhymes:English/ɛs/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- en:Hair