peruke

Alternative forms

• perruque
• peruque

Etymology

From French perruque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈɹuːk/

Noun

peruke (plural perukes)

1. A wig, especially one with long hair on the sides and back, worn mainly by men in the 17th and 18th centuries.
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, I.213:

     But now at thirty years my hair is grey— / (I wonder what it will be like at forty? / I thought of a peruke the other day—) [...].

   • 1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 19:

     Every chair was filled, the line of assistants working like conjurors at the bizarre hairstyles, a splendid confusion of feathers and flared perukes, wings of back-brushed hair, like the plumage of an aviary.

   • 1992, Kim Newman, Anno Dracula, Titan Books 2011, p. 135:

     With a delicate touch, he reset his golden peruke on his sweat-slick skull.

Etymology

peru +‎ -ke

Noun

peruke

1. (fishing) wire trace, snood