tress

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

tress, n. [OE. tresse, OF. trece, F. tresse, LL. tricia, fr. Gr. tri`cha threefold, because a tress is usually formed by interlacing three pieces; akin to trei^s three. See Three.].

•  A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet.  [1913 Webster]

  "Her yellow hair was braided in a tress."  [1913 Webster]

  "Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare."  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: A knot or festoon, as of flowers.  Keats.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tress, n. & v.
--n.
1 a long lock of human (esp. female) hair.
2 (in pl.) a woman's or girl's head of hair.
--v.tr. arrange (hair) in tresses.

Derivative

tressed adj. (also in comb.). tressy adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF tresse, perh. ult. f. Gk trikha threefold

ROGET THESAURUS

tress

Roughness

N roughness, tooth, grain, texture, ripple, asperity, rugosity, salebrosity, corrugation, nodosity, arborescence, pilosity, brush, hair, beard, shag, mane, whisker, moustache, imperial, tress, lock, curl, ringlet, fimbriae, pili, cilia, villi, lovelock, beaucatcher, curl paper, goatee, papillote, scalp lock, plumage, plumosity, plume, panache, crest, feather, tuft, fringe, toupee, wool, velvet, plush, nap, pile, floss, fur, down, byssus, moss, bur, fluff, knot (convolution), rough, uneven, scabrous, scaly, knotted, rugged, rugose, rugous, knurly, asperous, crisp, salebrous, gnarled, unpolished, unsmooth, roughhewn, craggy, cragged, crankling, scraggy, prickly, arborescent, leafy, well-wooded, feathery, plumose, plumigerous, laciniate, laciniform, laciniose, pappose, pileous, pilose, trichogenous, trichoid, tufted, fimbriated, hairy, ciliated, filamentous, hirsute, crinose, crinite, bushy, hispid, villous, pappous, bearded, pilous, shaggy, shagged, fringed, befringed, setous, setose, setaceous, like quills upon the fretful porcupine, rough as a nutmeg grater, rough as a bear, downy, velvety, flocculent, woolly, lanate, lanated, lanuginous, lanuginose, tomentose, fluffy, against the grain, cabello luengo y corto el seso.