Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A fringe of curled, often artificial hair, usually worn on the forehead by a woman.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See frizette.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a fringe of hair or curls worn about the forehead by women.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French frisette, from friser, to curl; see frizz.]

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Examples

  • "frisette" shingling it, a sallow neck with a necklace of gold beads, a black dress too rusty for recent grief and contours in basso-rilievo, left the table prematurely, and was reported to have been very virulent about what I said.

    Autocrat of the Breakfast Table Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851

  • "frisette" shingling it, a sallow neck with a necklace of gold beads, a black dress too rusty for recent grief and contours in basso-rilievo, left the table prematurely, and was reported to have been very virulent about what I said.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851

  • "Light hair isn't wanted, so Ju will have to give hers, or you'd better borrow Miss Bat's frisette," added Mabel, with a scornful laugh.

    Jack And Jill Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888 1902

  • "Light hair isn't wanted, so Ju will have to give hers, or you'd better borrow Miss Bat's frisette," added Mabel, with a scornful laugh.

    Jack and Jill Louisa May Alcott 1860

  • She was the remains of a blonde, with light eyes and hair; she was now gray, but wore a dark frisette, whilst the gray hair showed through her cap behind.

    The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Volume 2 Maria Edgeworth 1808

  • I wish I could describe to you this extraordinary specimen of humanity -- a short little old body with an intelligent face -- all her wool carefully concealed by an enormous turban, from beneath each side of which hung four black strings, looking like an imitation frisette of false curls, her odd figure enveloped in shawl and cape, rubbing her hands nervously and sinking into the floor, as it seemed, as she curtseyed to us lower than I ever saw anybody go and get up again straight.

    Letters from Port Royal Written at the Time of the Civil War (1862-1868) Elizabeth Ware [Editor] Pearson

Comments

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  • To be sure, it was the fashion to appear older in her day,—they could remember the sober effect of really youthful married persons in cap and frisette; but, whether they owed it to the changed times or to their own qualities, they felt no older themselves than ever they had.

    --Sarah Orne Jewett, 1886, The Dulham Ladies

    January 28, 2010