bonnet

plural bonnets · alternative bunnet

1. A type of hat, once widely worn by women or children, held in place by ribbons tied under the chin; now uncommonly worn except in certain religious sects.

   In the hall, Scarlett saw a bonnet and put it on hurriedly, tying the ribbons under her chin. It was Melanie's black mourning bonnet and it did not fit Scarlett's head but she could not recall where she had put her own bonnet.

   1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XXIII, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 382

   1 more example

   “Now,” said he, “put such a bonnet as that in the show window.” He did not fill his show-window up town with a lot of hats and bonnets to drive people away, and then sit on the back stairs and bawl because people went to Wanamaker's to trade.

   2008, Russell H. Conwell, Robert Shackleton, Acres of Diamonds, page 37

2. A traditional Scottish woollen brimless cap; a bunnet.

   1 more example

   A shock-head of red hair, which the hat and periwig of the Lowland costume had in a great measure concealed, was seen beneath the Highland bonnet, and verified the epithet of Roy, or Red, by which he was much better known in the low country than by any other, and is still, I suppose, best remembered.

   1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter V, in Rob Roy. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 147

   Synonyms: tam o'shanter

3. A mushroom-shaped satin cap with an elastic headband used to protect kinky hair, especially while sleeping.

   1 more example

   Even dressing, you know, back in the day, you only had two pair of pants, those two pair of pants better be polished and clean every day, even if those were the only two pair of pants you had. Nowadays it's like, nobody cares, people walk around with bonnets on their head, and there's no sense of pride in anything.

   2016, 50:10 from the start, in [Rochester, New York sociolinguistic interview with 26 year old woman] (WAV), spoken by interviewee (anonymous), Corpus of Regional African American Language, published 2018

   Synonyms: sleep cap

4. broadlyThe polishing head of a power buffer, often made of wool.

   Make sure that the power buffer's lamb's-wool bonnet is clean. Change or rinse the bonnet frequently to avoid scratching the finish. Use the bonnet as a mitten to buff in the crevices and other areas that the power buffer can't reach.

   2008, The Editors of Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics Complete Car Care Manual, page 297

5. CommonwealthautomotiveThe hinged cover over the engine of a motor car.

   People were reluctant to slam a bonnet shut in those days. One just did not slam bonnets and doors.

   2004, David Spencer, quoted in Don Loffler, The FJ Holden: A Favourite Australian Car, page 217

   3 more examples

   The car is burgundy red, wide and elegant, ten years old but still the boys are impressed and they run to touch it, pressing sticky handprints against the polished bodywork and trying to climb up onto the bonnet.

   2003, Jon McGregor, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, page 189

   By about 20 ms, there is contact between the bonnet leading edge and the pedestrian upper leg/pelvis on the struck side, the severity of which depends on the vehicle shape.

   2009, Ciaran Simms, Denis Wood, Pedestrian and Cyclist Impact: A Biomechanical Perspective, page 38

   Stoll was still standing on the car bonnet with the catch of his large-calibre repeating rifle off.

   2009, Stefan Aust, Anthea Bell, Baader-Meinhof: the inside story of the R.A.F., page 308

   Synonyms: hood, hood

6. nauticalA length of canvas attached to a fore-and-aft sail to increase the pulling power.

   And standing along to the Westward, this night we tryed with our mayne coarse and bonnet. On Saturday night we came to an anker, in three fathomes against Sewramo.

   1596, Thomas Masham, “The Third Voyage set forth by Sir Walter Ralegh to Guiana”, in Richard Hakluyt, editor, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffics and Discoveries of the English Nation, volume 3, London, page 695

7. obsoleteslangAn accomplice of a gambler, auctioneer, etc., who entices others to bet or to bid.

   1 more example

   “All you have to do is to put a sovereign down on my table, and to find the pea, which I put under one of my thimbles. […] Why,” said the man, “I think you would do to be my bonnet.” “What would the wages be?” I demanded. “Why, to a first-rate bonnet, as I think you would prove, I could afford to give from forty to fifty shillings a week.”

   1851, George Borrow, Lavengro; the Scholar—the Gypsy—the Priest. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: John Murray […], →OCLC

8. archaicThe second stomach of a ruminant.

   Synonyms: reticulum

9. historicalA ducat, an old Scottish coin worth 40 shillings.
10. Anything resembling a bonnet (hat) in shape or use.
    1. A small defence work at a salient angle; or a part of a parapet elevated to screen the other part from enfilade fire.
    2. A metallic canopy over an opening, such as chimney or fireplace, used to increase draught.
    3. A frame of wire netting over a locomotive chimney, to prevent escape of sparks.
    4. A roofing over the cage of a mine, to protect its occupants from objects falling down the shaft.
    5. In pumps, a metal covering for the openings in the valve chambers.
    6. biologyA mushroom of the genus Mycena.

present singular third person bonnets · participle present bonneting · participle present bonnetting · participle past bonneted · past bonneted · participle past bonnetted · past bonnetted · alternative bunnet

1. transitiveTo put a bonnet on.
2. obsoleteTo take off the bonnet or cap as a mark of respect; to uncover.

   Hee hath deſerued worthily of his Countrey, and his aſſent is not by ſuch eaſie degrees as thoſe, who hauing beene ſupple and courteous to the People, Bonnetted, without any further deed, to haue them at all into their eſtimation, and report:

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 10, column 2

3. datedtransitiveTo pull the bonnet or cap down over the eyes of.

   “You’re a dutiful and affectionate little boy, you are, ain’t you?” said Mr. Weller, “to come a bonnetin’ your father in his old age?”

   1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Showing How Mr. Samuel Weller Got into Difficulties”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 460

   Synonyms: block

1. A surname from French.