a. [f. L. tonsōri-us pertaining to a barber + -AL.] Of or pertaining to a barber or his work; often used humorously, as ‘a tonsorial artist.’
1813. Moore, Post-bag, ii. 22. During that awful hour or two Of grave tonsorial preparation.
1851. Thackeray, Contrib. to Punch, Nov., Wks. 1894, XIII. 575. Under the roof of a tonsorial practitioner in the Waterloo Road.
1910. Daily News, 15 Dec., 6. American ‘tonsorial artists’ are furious at the popularity of the safety razor.
So † Tonsorian, † Tonsorious adjs., tonsorial.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Tonsorious..., of or belonging to a barber or tonsor.
1658. in Phillips.
1705. Elstob, in Hearne, Collect., 30 Nov. (O.H.S.), I. 107. Worthy a Prince of the Tonsorian Race, The best that er’e with steel mow’d human face.
