wig1
/wɪɡ
/noun
A covering for the head made of real or artificial hair, typically worn by judges and barristers in law courts or by people trying to conceal their baldness.Real hair wigs are definitely the better option for people who need a wig because of hair loss....
- A thick braid of hair hung just above the bench's surface, looking more like a wig than real hair.
- Pins that are used to penetrate hairpieces or wigs are often referred to as T-pin or wig hair pins.
Derivatives
wigged
/ adjective [usually in combination]: a blonde-wigged woman...
- For most people the term ‘common law’ summons up quaint images of wigged British judges and piles of dusty law books.
- The photo had been altered so that between the doctors peering down at the operation is a wigged and gowned barrister.
- Mr. Darnay tells Sydney Carton, the wigged gentleman who resembles him (and who is an attorney working for the defense), to tell Miss Manette that he is deeply sorry to have been the cause of her agitation.
wigless
- One party's negotiator says his abiding memory of the Good Friday talks was of her walking the corridors shoeless, wigless (she wore a wig after radiotherapy) and carrying a bottle of champagne in her hand.
- For more than five years, the wigless - solicitors - have been demanding the same rights as their wig-wearing brethren - the barristers - to litigate in the High Court and the Court of Final Appeal.
- Upon his arrival on a hot February Sydney day, Dowling disembarked to an eleven-gun salute and was greeted by a gowned but wigless Chief Justice.
Origin
Late 17th century: shortening of periwig.
Rhymes
wig2
/wɪɡ/verb (wigs, wigging, wigged)
[with object] British informal, dated Rebuke (someone) severely: I had often occasion to wig him for getting drunk...
- It was as the Daily Chronicle interviewer was leaving that Khama gently wigged him with humorous but earnest words of warning.
Phrasal verbs
wig out
Origin
Early 19th century: apparently from wig1, perhaps from bigwig and associated with a rebuke given by a person in authority.