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Glite Dictionary
horsehair wig

horsehair wig

1 9.0
A head covering made from horse hair that judges wear in court
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : peluca de pelo de caballo
  • Either you make the call or I'm-a come across that desk and snatch that horsehair wig off your bald head.

Examples

  • In the courtroom, the judge's horsehair wig signified the formality of the proceedings.

  • During the trial, the barrister adjusted his horsehair wig before presenting his arguments.

  • Wearing a horsehair wig, she upheld the traditions of her profession in the historic court.

Synonyms

wig
vshorsehair wig
220 1.3

A fake hair covering for the whole head used to hide hair loss or for acting and fashion

is reserved for formal court dress worn by judges and barristers in some courts

Surface Forms

horsehair wig singular
horsehair wigs plural

Morphology

horsehair + wig

The compound is fully compositional: 'horsehair' names the material and 'wig' names the object, so the phrase straightforwardly means a wig made from horsehair. This noun+noun material construction is a common and predictable pattern cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Horsehair wig The noun horsehair wig comes from wigs made of horsehair. Long ago, British judges and lawyers wore stiff wigs to look serious and to hide their faces, so the wig became a sign of the court's 'power' and 'formal dress'.