hairdress

plural hairdresses

1. countableA hairstyle.

   It is wearing an Egyptian hairdress, but no crown is distinguishable.

   1999, Martin Klingbeil, Martin G Klingbeil, Yahweh Fighting from Heaven

   4 more examples

   Just as the close, tight hairdress emphasizes and enlarges the face, so the large, loose arrangement that creates a large frame for the face makes it seem smaller by contrast .

   1938, Laurene Hempstead, Look Your Best: A Guide to Feminine Style and Beauty, page 13

   Statuette, fashioned from grayish black terracotta, depicting Princess holding flower jar; short shoulder jacket extending over free flowing robe, exposing upturned sandals; chignon hairdress; traces of red and white pigments with earthy incrustations.

   1943, Yamanaka & Company, Collection of Chinese and other Far Eastern art

   For the port, the voice, the smell, the hairdress, were seldom the same, from one day to the next, […]

   1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC

   One way to judge is to compare the hairdress of the doll under discussion with pictures of the lady at about the time the doll was made.

   2016, Clara Hallard Fawcett, Dolls - A Guide for Collectors

2. uncountableThe process or act of styling hair.

   In hairdress, as in clothes, do not be a slave to fashion.

   1951, Adelaide Laura Van Duzer, Benjamin Richard Andrews, The Girl's Daily Life, page 315

   2 more examples

   The play is laid in the period when English society paid a great deal of attention to hairdress.

   1938, Robert W. Masters, Lillian Decker Masters, The Curtain Rises, Plays to Produce, page 281

   Considerable attention has been given to hairdress in these, with long "page-boy" coiffures shown in modeling and scoring.

   1966, An Introduction to American Archaeology: South America, page 266

present singular third person hairdresses · participle present hairdressing · participle past hairdressed · past hairdressed

1. To dress or style hair.

   I worked any hours I could at other things to reduce the number of hours I had to hairdress.

   2016, Rebecca De Havalland, His Name Is Rebecca

   2 more examples

   "Monsieur," Francina told Mrs. Sill with the utmost tact, "is not licensed to hairdress or manicure pets. His professional aides are limited to slightly higher mammals — er — people. I am terribly sorry, madam."

   1971, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jump bad: a new Chicago anthology, page 71

   I can tell you that in three cities in New Mexico there were enough hairdressers trained to hairdress in 16 States the size of New Mexico.

   1993, United States, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Fiscal, Economic, and Social Crises Confronting American Cities, page 296