or aggerawator, haggerawator, subs. (common).—A lock of hair brought down from the forehead, well greased, and twisted in a spiral on the temple, either toward the ear, or conversely toward the outer corner of the eye. Usually in pl., once an aid to beauty: now rare.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS. Bell-ropes; beau-catchers; cobbler’s-knots; cowlicks; love-locks; Newgate knockers; number sixes; spit-curls.
FRENCH SYNONYMS. Accroche-cœurs; guiches; rouflaquettes.
1836. DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, 132. His hair carefully twisted … till it formed a variety of … semi-curls, usually known as ‘AGGERAWATORS.’
1859. FRANK FOWLER, Southern Lights and Shadows, 38. [The ladies] are addicted to … hair, embellished with two or three C’s—AGGRAVATORS they call ’em—running over the temple.
1885. BURTON, The Thousand Nights and a Night, i. 168. Note 3.—In other copies the fourth couplet swears by the scorpions of his brow, i.e., the accroche-cœurs, or AGGRAVATORS.
