helmet

plural helmets · alternative obsolete helmette

1. businessA hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.

   Most speedboarders wear helmets, knee and elbow pads, and occasionally all-in-one aerodynamic suits, to protect themselves.

   2009 February 25, Noam Friedlander, “Dangerous sport of speedboarding banned from Malibu streets”, in The Daily Telegraph

   1 more example

   Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter II, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   Synonyms: helm, brain bucket

2. That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.
   1. The upper part of a chemist's retort.

      Synonyms: helm

   2. The hood-shaped upper sepal or petal of some flowers, as of the monkshood or the snapdragon.
   3. A naked shield or protuberance on the top or fore part of the head of a bird.
   4. The glans penis.

      And it makes me sick, the thought of your lipstick on his helmet.

      1998, “Quarterback”, in Adam Cohen, performed by Adam Cohen

      Synonyms: bell-end, cockhead, cue ball, dickhead, dome, head, knob, knobhead

   5. broadlyderogatoryA contemptible or stupid person.

      Jarvo’s a stinky old helmet.

      2021 September 3, MJowen174, Twitter, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2023

      Synonyms: bell-end, cockhead, cue ball, dickhead, dome, head, knob, knobhead

present singular third person helmets · participle present helmeting · participle present helmetting · participle past helmeted · past helmeted · participle past helmetted · past helmetted · alternative obsolete helmette

1. transitiveTo cover with, or as if with, a helmet.

   And then they’re fleeing in a second rain of meteorites, their arms helmetting their heads, as they run away from us.

   2014, Jandy Nelson, I’ll Give You the Sun, New York, N.Y.: Dial Books, →ISBN, page 96

   2 more examples

   There was no nonsense about these women—no hysteria, no top-note emotion. They were not out for smashing windows or helmetting policemen, or blowing up things sky-high.

   1913 August 28, “English Non-Militant Suffragists in Parade”, in The Union Signal, volume XXXIX, number 35, Evanston, Ill., page 12

   COMRADE, I had done well with you to swear / Allegiance to the colors of romance / In the great days when our sweet mistress, France, / Girded her loins and helmetted her hair.

   1917 August, Walter Adolphe Roberts, “To a Friend Fallen for France (Alan Seeger)”, in The Forum, volume LVIII, New York, N.Y.: The Forum Publishing Company […], page 210