▪ I. bonnet, n.
(ˈbɒnɪt)
Forms: 4–7 bonet, (4 bonat, 4–6 bonette), 6– bonnet, (5–6 bonett, 5 bonyte, Sc. bannate, 6 bonnette, bonete, bonnit, bunnet, 6–8 bonnett, Sc. bannet).
[ME. bonet, a. OF. bonet, bounet, bonnet, in same sense, short for chapel de bonet (of which see instances in Godef.), ‘hat or cap of bonet’, a material mentioned in med.L. documents, as bon(n)etus, bon(n)etum: see Du Cange. Ulterior history unknown.]
1. An article of apparel for the head; ‘a covering for the head, a hat, a cap’. (J.) a. A head-dress of men and boys; usually soft, and distinguished from the hat by want of a brim. In England, superseded in common use (app. before 1700) by cap, but retained in Scotland; hence sometimes treated as = ‘Scotch cap’. to vail (or vale) the bonnet: to take it off in respect.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 506 He gert ay ber about Apon a sper ane red bonat. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 262/3 And couerd his hede with a bonet. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 342 Than Arthur..wente to the Kynge, and dyde of hys bonet. 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, xiii, No man..[shall] weare..anye wollen clothe made out of this realme..except in bonnettes only. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iv. 31 Off goes his bonnet to an Oyster-wench. 1673 R. Leigh Transposer Reh. 19 Many a Scotch Kirkman [loses] his Blue Bonnet. 1700 Rycaut Hist. Turks III. 317 Having on his Head his Ducal Bonnet. 1704 in Blackw. Mag. (1818) Feb. 521/2 Most of the men..wear thrumb caps in Scotland, which they call bonnetts. 1785 Burns Cotter's Sat. Night xii, His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside. 1814 Scott Wav. xviii, The martial air of the bonnet, with a single eagle's feather as a distinction. 1850 A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 333 Wearing the lawyer's bonnet. |
| 1562 Cooper Answ. (1850) 213 All to whom they be shewed, do vail their bonnets. a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1644) 204 It would make all Nations to vail the Bonnet to England. 1641 R. Brooke Eng. Episc. 85 All Officers vaile bonnet, when the party giving them power is present. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 204 To see men veil their Bonnets to that set, that have officed them. 1830 T. Hamilton C. Thornton (1845) 73 The shepherd vailed his bonnet. |
† b. A cap of mail, a kind of helmet.
Obs.| c 1505 Dunbar Sev. Deadly Sins 37 Iakkis, and stryppis and bonettis of steill. |
† c. A night-cap.
Obs. (F.
bonnet de nuit.)
| 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 283 Put on..his kercher and his bonet. |
d. A head-dress of women out of doors; distinguished from a
hat (at present) mainly by the want of a brim, and by its covering no part of the forehead.
| 1499 Acct. in Comm.-place Bk. 15th C. (1886) 167 It. for a bonet of welwete bowte for hyr at Norweche. c 1505 Dunbar Sev. Deadly Sins 17 Pryd, With bair wyld bak and bonet on syd. 1530 Papers Earls of Cumbld. in Whitaker Hist. Craven 305 Three black velvet bonnetts for women. 1716 S. Masters' Patent No. 403 A new way of working and staining in straw and..adorning hatts and bonnetts. 1786 Lounger No. 79 The progress of bonnets from the quaker to the Shepherdess and Kitty Fisher, and thence to the Werter, the Lunardi, and Parachute. 1836 Dickens Pickw. x, You Rachael..get on your bonnet and come back. 1881 Grant White Eng. Without & W. ii. 55 A bonnet has strings, I believe, and a hat has not. |
e. Her. The velvet cap within a coronet.
f. bonnet rouge (
Fr.): the red cap of the French sans-culottes of 1793, taken as a type of the revolutionary spirit.
| 1815 Scribbleomania 213 Gallia's red bonnet de nuit. 1835 Marryat Olla Podr. xix, The province..was among the first to receive..the bonnet rouge. |
2. Naut. An additional piece of canvas laced to the foot of a sail to catch more wind. (It appears to have been formerly laced to the top of the sail, or to have been itself a top-sail.) Hence
to vale (or vail) a bonnet:
cf. 1 a.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeless iv. 72 They bente on a bonet, and bare a topte saile Affor þe wynde ffresshely to make a good ffare. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3657 They..trussene upe sailes, Bot bonettez one brede. 1483 Cath. Angl. 36 A Bonet of a saille; superus. 1513 Douglas æneis v. xiv. 4 Fessyn bonettis beneth the mane sale doun. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. viii. iii. 740. a 1618 Raleigh Invent. Shipping 16 We have lately added the Bonnett, and the Drabler. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. vii. 31 We say, lash on the bonet to the course, because it is made fast with Latchets into the eylot holes of the saile, as the Drabler is to it, and vsed as the wind permits. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789). 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxv. 84 A storm-jib with the bonnet off. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., Bonnets have lately been introduced to secure the foot of an upper topsail to a lower-topsail yard. 1884 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads iv. 29. |
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxvi. xvi, Her bonet she vayled, and gan to stryke sayle. a 1529 Skelton Agst. Venom. Tongues Wks. I. 133 Then let them vale a bonet of their proud sayle. |
3. Fortification. A portion of the works at any salient angle, raised 2 or 3 feet in height on the parapet between the guns. It assists in protecting from enfilade fire and ricochet.
| 1700 Rycaut Hist. Turks III. 322 The Turks had formed a mine under the Bonnet. 1755 Johnson, Bonnet, a kind of little ravelin, without any ditch, having a parapet three feet high, anciently placed before the points of the saliant angles of the glacis. 1877 Kinglake Crimea III. v. 364 Three out of the four remaining angles of the octagon were furnished with small bonnettes and barbettes. |
4. The second stomach of ruminants.
| 1782 A. Monro Compar. Anat. (ed. 3) 39 The second stomach..is called κεκρύϕαλος reticulum, the bonnet, or king's-hood. 1836–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. II. 11/1 The second stomach..has received the appellation of..bonnet. |
† 5. A weel or snare for fish.
Obs.| 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. i. i. 5 They cast abundance of them [Shell-fish] into the Sea, in Weels or Bonnets for that purpose. |
6. Applied to a protective covering or defence in various technical uses:
a. The cowl at the top of a lighthouse, chimney, ventilating shaft, etc.;
b. A wire covering over the chimney of a locomotive engine or steamer to prevent the escape of sparks (chiefly in
U.S. where wood is largely burnt for fuel);
c. A covering over the cage in mines for protection against objects falling down the shaft;
d. A protecting cap for a safety lamp;
e. An iron plate covering the openings in the valve-chambers of a pump;
f. A hinged cover over the engine (in some makes over the luggage compartment) at the front of a motor vehicle.
| 1862 J. Blight Wk. Land's End 93 The bonnet or corvel which crowns the structure [a lighthouse]. 1880 Print. Times 59/2 It is advisable to have a large cover or ‘bonnet’ for the [melting] pot. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 198/2 The wire bonnet of the smoke-stack is worn on one side. 1884 Athenæum 25 Oct. 533/2 Safety lamps..fitted with ‘bonnets’ or protectors. 1902 A. C. Harmsworth Motors & Motor-Driving 181 If you have a flare-up,..take off bonnet to save the paint, and smother the flames. 1904 Young Compl. Motorist 111 The engine, instead of being placed vertically under a bonnet in front of the car, lies horizontally immediately in front of the dash-board. 1955 Times 21 June 5/4 The forward view from the driving seat is better than the rather high bonnet would suggest. |
7. A plant;
= blue-bonnet.
| 1883 Century Mag. 383 Saw-grass water-lettuce, bonnets, or other aquatic plants. |
8. A thing or person used to conceal or put a good face upon underhand proceedings; a pretended player at a gaming-table, or bidder at an auction, secretly in league with the proprietor or auctioneer to lure others to play or buy; a thimble-rigger's accomplice; a decoy. Also
fig.| [1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Bonnet, a concealment, pretext, or pretence; an ostensible manner of accounting for what you really mean to conceal.] 1833 Fraser's Mag. VIII. 342 His look and bearing are positively those of a bonnet at a fashionable hell. 1860 All Y. Round No. 41. 341 A sly smile, such as a thimble-rig man greets his ‘bonnet’ with. 1877 Besant & Rice Son of Vulc. i. vii. 80 He [schoolmaster] is looking out for more boys. Ah, Myles! what a lovely bonnet that child of yours would make! 1884 Sir S. Northcote in Parl. (Times 2 Apr. 8/5), My noble friend [Ld. R. Churchill] is very adroit and agile in the positions he has taken up, but this is the first time I have seen him perform the part of ‘bonnet’ to the Government. 1885 Morn. Post 5 Sept. 7/3 There was no distinct evidence to connect him with a conspiracy to defraud..He might have been used as a sort of ‘bonnet’ to conceal the utter worthlessness of propositions made by the others. |
9. Phrases.
to have a bee in one's bonnet: see
bee1 5.
to fill a person's bonnet: to fill his place, equal him in any respect.
to rive the bonnet of: to excel (Jamieson).
to have a green bonnet: to have failed in business (Ogilvie).
| 1726 Poems Comp. Archers 33 (Jam.) May every archer strive to fill His bonnet..And praise like him deserve. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xvii, ‘He's but a daidling coward body. He'll never fill Rumbleberry's bonnet’. |
10. Comb., as
bonnet-basket,
bonnet-box,
bonnet-folder,
bonnet-lining,
bonnet-maker,
bonnet-sewing,
bonnet-string;
bonnet-cap, a cap worn inside a bonnet;
bonnet-fluke Sc., a fish, the Brill;
bonnet-headed a. (
Arch.), of a window in which the outside of the arch is more splayed than the jambs;
† bonnet-laird Sc., a petty proprietor in Scotland, wearing a bonnet like the humbler classes;
bonnet-limpet, the genus
Pileopsis of gasteropodous molluscs, so called from the shape of the shell;
bonnet-macaque,
bonnet-monkey, a kind of monkey (
Macacus Sinicus), so called from the arrangement of the hairs on its head;
bonnet-man, the wearer of a bonnet, a Highlander;
bonnet-pepper, a kind of Capsicum, with fruit shaped like a Scotch bonnet;
bonnet-piece, a gold coin of James V. of Scotland, on which the effigy of the sovereign is represented wearing a bonnet;
bonnet-shape, the frame-work of a bonnet.
| 1834 Dickens Sk. Boz (1836) 1 Ser. I. 152 Trunks, *bonnet-boxes, muff-boxes. 1871 Memb. for Paris I. 259 Papers, which had lain hidden in one of her bonnet-boxes. |
| 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz (1836) 1 Ser. I. 318 The derangement of their curls and *bonnet-caps. 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. viii. lxxiv. 212 She brushed her hair down and put on a plain bonnet-cap, which made her look suddenly like an early Methodist. |
| 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 278 The *bonnet-headed window may be seen at Holy Trinity Church, Colchester. |
| 1816 Scott Antiq. iv, It belonged to auld Johnnie Howie, a *bonnet-laird hard by. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. i. (1855) 23 The humbler pinnace of a ‘bonnet-laird’. |
| 1876 Wallace Distrib. Anim. II. 511 The..*Bonnet-limpets, are found on the coasts of all seas from Norway to Chili and Australia. |
| 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. (1863) 523 A blush that makes her *bonnet-lining pale. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 199/2 *Bonnet maker, bonnettier. |
| 1811 C. James Milit. Dict. (1816) 57/1 Bonnet worn by the Highlanders, hence called *Bonnet-men. |
| 1702 Bp. Nicolson Sc. Hist. Libr. 300 (Jam.) The common gold coins of this reign well known by the name of *Bonnet Pieces. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. VI. 284, I will halve this bonnet-piece of gold between us. |
| 1837 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 38/1 One [shop] was a *bonnet-shape maker's. |
| 1848 ― Dombey vi, Do untie your *bonnet-strings and make yourself at home. |
▪ II. bonnet, v. (
ˈbɒnɪt)
[f. prec. n.] † 1. intr. ? To take off the bonnet in token of respect; to ‘vail the bonnet’.
Obs.| 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. ii. 30 Those, who hauing beene supple and courteous to the People, Bonnetted, without any further deed, to haue them at all into their estimation. |
2. trans. To put a bonnet on.
| 1858 Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life 239 She was duly bonneted and pinafored. |
3. To crush down a person's hat over his eyes.
| 1837 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 239/1 Two young men..varied their amusements by ‘bonneting’ the proprietor of this itinerant coffee-house. 1882 Sat. Rev. LIV. 629 The Students hustled and ‘bonnetted’ a new Professor. |
4. To provide (a safety lamp) with an iron bonnet or shield.
| 1901 Jrnl. Inst. Elect. Engin. XXX. 834 In appearance it is a bonneted Mueseler lamp. |