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Meaning & use

tress of hair

phrase·Advancedliterary

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UK/ˈtres əv ˈheə/
US/ˈtres əv ˈher/

Meaning

  1. phrasefixed phraseliterary

    A long, loose curl or bunch of hair, often kept as a keepsake or described in romantic writing.

    Grammar: Countable with an article: a tress of hair, two tresses of hair.

    Patterns

    • a tress of someone's hair
    • a tress of hair

    She kept a tress of hair from her grandmother in a small locket.

    A single tress of hair fell across his forehead.

    The poem describes a golden tress of hair tied with a ribbon.

Word forms

pluraltresses of hair

Common combinations

golden tress of hair
The museum displays a golden tress of hair from the queen.
cut a tress of hair
The barber cut a tress of hair for the keepsake box.
tress of hair in a locket
He wore a tress of hair in a locket close to his heart.
braided tress of hair
A braided tress of hair lay inside the old letter.

Synonyms and how they differ

lock of hair
Lock of hair is the plain everyday phrase, while tress of hair sounds more poetic.
curl
A curl is always curved, but a tress can hang straight or wavy.
strand
A strand is one or a few hairs, whereas a tress is a thicker bunch.

Word family

tress noun
a long lock of hair
tresses noun
long flowing hair, usually a woman's, in poetic use
tressed adjective
having tresses of a certain kind, as in golden-tressed

Commonly confused: tress of hair or stress?

tress of hair vs stress

Stress is mental or physical strain, and it has a different first sound from tress.

Practice

Which phrase would a poet most likely choose to describe a lovely bunch of a woman's hair?

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