elf-lock
(ˈɛlflɒk)
In 6, 9 pl. elves-locks.
[f. elf + lock (of hair).]
A tangled mass of hair, superstitiously attributed to the agency of elves, esp. Queen Mab: ‘which it was not fortunate to disentangle’ (Nares).
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 90 Elf-locks [1623 elk⁓locks]. 1596 Lodge Wits Miserie (Halliw.), Curl'd and full of elves-locks. 1637 Heywood Dialogues xvii. Wks. 1874 VI. 241 What though my thin and unkemb'd scattered haire Fell in long Elfe-locks from my scalpe, now bare? 1810 Gentl. Mag. LXXXVI. i. 214 Their hair remains matted and wreathed in elves-locks. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. ii. iv. 84 The listless craftsmen through their elf-locks scowled. |
Hence ˈelf-locked ppl. a., having elf-locks or tangled hair.
| 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal vii. 83 The elfe-lockt fury all her snakes had shed. 1946 W. de la Mare Traveller 23 Plaiting cramped fingers in the elf-locked mane. |