tonsured

• There, sitting on Death Row, waiting to get his demented head tonsured, his pants legs slit, his tongue fried black as the inside of a sheep's belly ... down there at Holman my pal Allison wanted me to go "chat" with one of the most awful creatures made for killing this side of a hammerhead shark, which creature had an infinitely greater measure of human decency than Henry Lake Spanning had ever demonstrated. —  Omni: October 1993
• It is true they wanted to burn some paintings, but a Franciscan brother (barefoot, in a coarse gray angle-length robe ; tonsured, his beard a blend of gray ; white reaching his chest), speaking in a marvelously mellifluous voice convinced them that aesthetic objects inspire spirituality in people who might otherwise have to be written off (soul-wise). —  F ;SF - vol 086 issue 01 - January 1994
• The image of Becket was twice found broken by mysterious means; and a cat, tonsured, and arrayed in miniature vestments, was discovered hanging on the gallows in Cheapside, while the offer of a large reward failed to reveal the offender During this time, Mistress Winter's piety had been blooming in a wonderful manner. —  For the Master's Sake A Story of the Days of Queen Mary
• He was tonsured, baptized, an alphabet was written for him, and he read his psalms in one day, as has been related to me. —  The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick Including the Life by Jocelin, Hitherto Unpublished in America, and His Extant Writings
• Their heads were tonsured, and as they went along they fumbled at their beads and gave their benediction to the people that passed by, whether they returned them an alms or not. —  The Black Douglas

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms