Peter Pan collar
1
6.3
- noun
- /ˈpiːtər pæn ˈkɒlər/
:
cuello Peter Pan
- I don't remember much about girls' clothes, although I remember my sister wearing Peter Pan collars, probably in the late '50s; all through high school she wore her hair
- a Peter Pan collar dress
- a white Peter Pan collar
Examples
-
Her red dress features a Peter Pan collar that adds a charming touch to her outfit.
-
She had inherent good taste, which led to cashmere and silk, with neat little Peter Pan collars and Chanel-style two-pieces, all suitable for a smart interview but not what she was seeking for tonight.
Fiction book (1995) -
She had on a blue dress with a Peter Pan collar.
Fiction book (1994) -
It has a bow and a Peter Pan collar.
Blog text (28) -
Her fashion statement for the day featured a very large-scale black-and-yellow hound's-tooth check on linen with a Peter Pan collar.
Fiction book (1995) -
She did look like a nun or an old-maid clerk in 1956—stick thin, in a Peter Pan collar and lace-up shoes.
Fiction book (2001) -
The school uniform includes a white Peter Pan collar that gives it a classic look.
-
The little girl wore a lovely blouse with a Peter Pan collar for the family gathering.
Synonyms
46
1.7
A necklace that fits closely around the neck and is worn for fashion
Surface Forms
Morphology
Peter + Pan + collar
The modifier 'Peter Pan' is an eponymic cultural reference to the fictional character and does not transparently describe the collar's shape from the literal meanings of 'Peter' or 'Pan' (which a learner might interpret as a name or a cooking pan). While 'collar' is clear, the specific notion of a flat collar with rounded ends cannot be derived from the constituent words without cultural knowledge of the costume, so the phrase is idiomatic/opaque to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Peter Pan collar may come from the small, flat, rounded collar worn by the actress in the early stage play Peter Pan, whose costume showed that neat round collar. That's why the term now means a flat collar with rounded ends often used to give clothes a 'childlike' or neat look.