‖ tête Obs. exc. Hist.
(‖ tɛt, teɪt)
[F. tête head.]
A woman's head of hair, or wig, dressed high and elaborately ornamented, in the fashion of the second half of the 18th c.
| 1756 C. Smart tr. Horace, Sat. i. viii. (1826) II. 71 Sagana's towering tête of false hair. 1772 R. Graves Spir. Quixote (1820) I. 140, I sell as many wigs or tetes as any barber in town. 1813 Sk. Charac. (ed. 2) I. 81 By way of Grecian tétes, they had large cockades of hair stuck at the back of their heads. 1816 Scott Antiq. vi, This unparalleled tête, which her brother was wont to say was fitter for a turban for Mahound or Termagant, than a head-gear for a..Christian gentlewoman. 1884 Pall Mall G. 7 May 6/1 She [a lady of time of Geo. III] wears what is called a tête, the monstrous head-dress that was fashionable in her time. |
b. Comb., as tête-maker.
| 1789 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Subj. for Paint. To Rdr., Wks. 1816 II. 121 Têtemakers, perfumers,..parliament speech⁓makers. |