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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Periwig

Periwig \Per"i*wig\, n. [OE. perrwige, perwicke, corrupt. fr. F. perruque; cf. OD. peruyk, from French. See Peruke, and cf. Wig.] A headdress of false hair, usually covering the whole head, and representing the natural hair; a wig.
--Shak.

Periwig

Periwig \Per"i*wig\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Perwigged; p. pr. & vb. n. Perwigging.] To dress with a periwig, or with false hair.
--Swift.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
periwig

1520s, perwyke, popular corruption of perruck, from Middle French perruque (see peruke).

Wiktionary
periwig

n. (context historical English) wig vb. (context transitive English) To dress with a periwig, or with false hair; to bewig.

WordNet
periwig

n. wig for men fashionable in 17th-18th centuries [syn: peruke]

Usage examples of "periwig".

Ingram Frizer I have aforementioned is villain enough and to spare for murther and felonious absconding with his periwig both.

Ingram Frizer I have aforementioned is villain enough and to spare for murther and felonious absconding with his periwig both.

Bootheels on the steps announced the return of Willett accompanying Jeremy Graves, less robe and periwig.

In opera hats, bedgowns, bonnets, yellow slickers, periwigs, knickers and snoods they paraded under the sun, some of the "women," seen now at closer range, appearing to be men in women's clothing, as though to correct a deficiency and even up the pairings.

By the time he passed under it, dawn-light was glancing prettily off its new stone-work: King Looie as a primordial naked Hercules leaning insouciantly on a tree-sized club, naked except for a periwig the size of a cloud, and a lion skin slung over one arm so that a flapping corner just covered the royal Penis.

Gazing for a few moments through a borrowed spyglass, Jack could see men in periwigs going to and fro in longboats, parleying with the customs officials, who here as in Algiers were all black-clad Jews.

To judge from their ages, the quality of their periwigs, and their posture, she guessed two full-fledged barristers and three clerks.

The rest of the Cabal, in their breeches, periwigs, robes, and kimonos, were seated behind her, listening with obvious curiosity.

Vrej Esphahnian and van Hoek were wearing actual periwigs and tri-cornered hats.

In the place of conical hats and small-swords, of lace and snowy periwigs, there were cobblestones over which clattered many a blooded horse and rumbled many a gilded coach.

Fantastic buttons, tags and laces, gorgeously embroidered cuffs and collars edged with priceless Mechlin or d'Alencon, bunches of ribands at knee and wrists, full periwigs and over-wide boot-hose tops were everywhere to be seen, whilst the clink of swords against the wooden boards and frequent volleys of loudly spoken French oaths, testified to the absence of those Puritanic fashions and customs which had become the general rule even in London.

For example, nowadays all MPs proudly wore the traditional black and scarlet gowns and powdered white periwigs, but so far no one had had the heart to point out that the gowns and wigs came from Parliaments centuries apart.

And no sooner have the Wars of Succession designed the full-bottomed periwig than the three-cornered hat, in the course of three Silesian wars, becomes more and more severe.