1. The act of shaving the head or part of the head, especially as a preliminary to becoming a priest or a member of a monastic order. 2. The part of a monk's or priest's head that has been shaved.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
Inflected forms: ton·sured, ton·sur·ing, ton·sures To shave the head of.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin tnsra, from Latin, a shearing, from tnsus, past participle of tondre, to shear. See tem- in Appendix I.
t
n
sh
r
ns
ra, from Latin, a shearing, from t
re, to shear. See tem- in Appendix I.
