Elizabethan collar
- noun
- /ɪˈlɪzəˌbiθən ˈkɑlər/
- Specialized
:
collar elizabethano
- After her surgery, the cat wore an Elizabethan collar to prevent her from scratching the incision.
Examples
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The vet recommended an Elizabethan collar for my dog to stop him from licking his stitches.
-
Looks like an Elizabethan collar.
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To help the puppy heal, the owner put an Elizabethan collar around its neck while it recovered.
Synonyms
A plastic collar put on a pet to stop it from licking or biting wounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'Elizabethan' (relating to the period/style of Queen Elizabeth I) and 'collar' (neckwear) can infer this refers to a type or style of collar — specifically a broad, ruff-like collar — so the form is partially predictable. However, the specialized veterinary function (a cone-shaped protective device to stop animals licking wounds) is not fully derivable from the constituents alone, making the expression only partially transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
Elizabethan collar may come from the big, stiff 'ruff' collars people wore in Queen Elizabeth I's time because the pet collar looks the same. That's why the name now means the cone vets put on a dog or cat 'to stop it from licking wounds'.
