See Also: tonsure(medicine)
tonsure(dictionary)
tonsure(dictionary)

tonsure (iou)



tonsure noun & verb. LME.
[Old & mod. French, or Latin tonsura, from tons- pa. ppl stem of tondere shear, clip: see -URE.]
A. noun.
The action or process of clipping the hair or shaving the head; the state of being shorn. LME.
spec. The shaving of the head or part of it as a religious practice or rite, esp. as a preparation to entering the clergy or a religious order. LME.
b. The part of a priest's or monk's head left bare by shaving the hair, in the Western Christian church typically a round patch on the crown. LME.
The clipping of coins, or of shrubs or hedges; the state of being clipped. rare. L15-L17.
b. verb trans. Clip or shave the hair of; usu. spec. give a tonsure to; fig. make bald-headed. L18.
tonsurate noun (Ecclesiastical History) the state or quality of being tonsured, esp. in preparation for orders L19.
tonsured adjective that has received the (ecclesiastical) tonsure; fig. partly bald; (of a shrub) clipped: E18.