bonnets

Noun

bonnet (plural bonnets)

1. A type of hat, once widely worn by women or children, held in place by ribbons tied under the chin; now uncommonly worn except in certain religious sects.
   • In the hall, Scarlett saw a bonnet and put it on hurriedly, tying the ribbons under her chin. It was Melanie's black mourning bonnet and it did not fit Scarlett's head but she could not recall where she had put her own bonnet.1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XXIII, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 382
2. A traditional Scottish woollen brimless cap; a bunnet.
   • A shock-head of red hair, which the hat and periwig of the Lowland costume had in a great measure concealed, was seen beneath the Highland bonnet, and verified the epithet of Roy, or Red, by which he was much better known in the low country than by any other, and is still, I suppose, best...1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter V, in Rob Roy. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst...

   Synonyms:

   tam o'shanter

3. A mushroom-shaped satin cap with an elastic headband used to protect kinky hair, especially while sleeping.
   • Even dressing, you know, back in the day, you only had two pair of pants, those two pair of pants better be polished and clean every day, even if those were the only two pair of pants you had. Nowadays it's like, nobody cares, people walk around with bonnets on their head, and there's no sense of...2016, 50:10 from the start, in [Rochester, New York sociolinguistic interview with 26 year old woman] (WAV), spoken by interviewee (anonymous), Corpus of Regional African American Language, published...

   Synonyms:

   sleep cap

4. (broadly) The polishing head of a power buffer, often made of wool.
   • Make sure that the power buffer's lamb's-wool bonnet is clean. Change or rinse the bonnet frequently to avoid scratching the finish. Use the bonnet as a mitten to buff in the crevices and other areas that the power buffer can't reach.2008, The Editors of Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics Complete Car Care Manual, page 297
5. (Commonwealth) The hinged cover over the engine of a motor car.
   • The car is burgundy red, wide and elegant, ten years old but still the boys are impressed and they run to touch it, pressing sticky handprints against the polished bodywork and trying to climb up onto the bonnet.2003, Jon McGregor, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, page 189

   Synonyms:

   hood

6. A length of canvas attached to a fore-and-aft sail to increase the pulling power.
   • And standing along to the Westward, this night we tryed with our mayne coarse and bonnet. On Saturday night we came to an anker, in three fathomes against Sewramo.1596, Thomas Masham, “The Third Voyage set forth by Sir Walter Ralegh to Guiana”, in Richard Hakluyt, editor, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffics and Discoveries of the English Nation...

See all 19 meanings of bonnet