Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A kind of hat worn during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, probably by noble and wealthy persons only.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The Duke and his companions were dressed in serge tunics, leathern jerkins, high boots and gauntlets, and wore bycocket hats and hoods.

    Intentions Oscar Wilde 1877

  • In a hat made on right principles one should be able to turn the brim up or down according as the day is dark or fair, dry or wet; but the hat brim of Mr. Huyshe's drawing is perfectly stiff, and does not give much protection to the face, or the possibility of any at all to the back of the head or the ears, in case of a cold east wind; whereas the bycocket, a hat made in accordance with the right laws, can be turned down behind and at the sides, and so give the same warmth as a hood.

    Miscellanies Oscar Wilde 1877

Comments

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  • An ancient cap worn by the kings of England. The upper part formed a double crown. (The word derives from an Old French term for a small castle at the top of a hill.) Also a 16th-century high-crowned, wide-brimmed Italian hat, peaked at the front and turned up at the back. Here's an example of the second.

    November 14, 2007

  • Fat Tuck never ventured to knock it

    Nor Marian made bold to mock it.

    'Twas well understood

    In Robin's green 'hood:

    No jokes on the headman's bycocket.

    February 24, 2015