Obs. exc. Hist. [F. tête head.] A woman’s head of hair, or wig, dressed high and elaborately ornamented, in the fashion of the second half of the 18th c.
1756. C. Smart, trans. Horace, Sat., I. viii. (1826), II. 71. Sagana’s towering tête of false hair.
1772. R. Graves, Spir. Quixote (1820), I. 140. I sell as many wigs or tetes as any barber in town.
1813. Sk. Charac. (ed. 2), I. 81. By way of Grecian têtes, they had large cockades of hair stuck at the back of their heads.
1816. Scott, Antiq., vi. This unparalleled tête, which her brother was wont to say was fitter for a turban for Mahound or Termagant, than a head-gear for a … Christian gentlewoman.
1884. Pall Mall G., 7 May, 6/1. She [a lady of time of Geo. III.] wears what is called a tête, the monstrous head-dress that was fashionable in her time.
b. Comb., as tête-maker.
1789. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Subj. for Paint., To Rdr., Wks. 1816, II. 121. Têtemakers, perfumers,… parliament speech-makers.
