In 6, 9 pl. elves-locks. [f. ELF + LOCK (of hair).] A tangled mass of hair, superstitiously attributed to the agency of elves, esp. Queen Mab: ‘which it was not fortunate to disentangle’ (Nares).
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 90. Elf-locks [1623 elk-locks].
1596. Lodge, Wits Miserie (Halliw.). Curl’d and full of elves-locks.
1637. Heywood, Dialogues, xvii. Wks. 1874, VI. 241. What though my thin and unkemb’d scattered haire Fell in long Elfe-locks from my scalpe, now bare?
1810. Gentl. Mag., LXXXVI. I. 214. Their hair remains matted and wreathed in elves-locks.
1848. Kingsley, Saint’s Trag., II. iv. 84. The listless craftsmen through their elf-locks scowled.
Hence Elf-locked ppl. a., having elf-locks or tangled hair.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, VII. 83. The elfe-lockt fury all her snakes had shed.
