tonsure
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈtɒnʃər/
- Literature
- The ancient practice of wearing a tonsure has roots in religious traditions where it signifies humility and devotion.
Examples
-
During the ceremony, the new monks received a tonsure as a sign of their dedication to the monastic community.
-
A fringe of sandy hair circled his bald head like a tonsure, and his drooping jowls gave him the morose look of a basset hound.
Fiction book (1992) -
I ran my hand over his dark hair, cut like a long tonsure over his narrow, pointed skull.
Fiction book (1999) -
His tonsure is an anachronism that brings to mind the monks of old.
Blog text (20) -
The thin wreath of hair that runs above his ears looks a little like a medieval tonsure.
Academic text (1994) -
And now a tufted circlet, his tonsure.
Fiction book (1994) -
He wore a tonsure of buzz-cut blond hair around a lot of clean scalp.
Fiction book (1999) -
I am left staring at the back of his head, the bald spot that is the tonsure of early middle age and was once the fontanelle of an infant, and I think—what else could I think—that I don't care what kind of life Isabel leads, so long as she gets to lead one.
Fiction book (1993) -
The monk's tonsure symbolized his commitment to a life of faith and service.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tonsure comes from the Latin word tonsura, from tondere 'to shave'. So a tonsure was originally 'a shaving' and now names the shaved patch or the act of shaving the top of the head that monks and priests wore as a religious sign.