Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A round, soft, brimless cap that fits snugly and is often worn angled to one side.
  • noun A Green Beret.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A round flat woolen cap worn by the Basque peasantry.
  • noun Same as biretta.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a cap made of soft cloth with no brim or bill, widening somewhat outward from a close-fitting headband to a flat top, which often has a button or tab in its center.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A type of round, brimless cap with a soft top and a headband to secure it to the head; usually culturally associated with France.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cap with no brim or bill; made of soft cloth

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French béret, from French dialectal berret and from Old Provençal berret, cap, both from Late Latin birrus, hooded cloak; see biretta.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French béret, from Occitan (Gascon) berret ("cap"), from Medieval Latin birretum, from Late Latin birrus ("large hooded cloak"), from Gaulish berros 'short, clipped' (compare Welsh byrr, Middle Irish berr). Compare biretta.

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Examples

  • Some are for fashion and advertising: for instance, Eve Solal, Daniel Robichaud's Digital Marlene or Alceu M Baptistao's Kaya, interesting for Baptistao's use of imperfection to achieve realism ( "the beret is a cheap trick to avoid showing hair").

    Archive 2003-11-01 Ray Girvan 2003

  • Some are for fashion and advertising: for instance, Eve Solal, Daniel Robichaud's Digital Marlene or Alceu M Baptistao's Kaya, interesting for Baptistao's use of imperfection to achieve realism ( "the beret is a cheap trick to avoid showing hair").

    Hyper-realistic art Ray Girvan 2003

  • The only good thing about a beret is that you could stuff it in your pocket at the NCO Club and not wrinkle it beyond repair.

    Vermont Hunting Accident Will Go To Trial 2009

  • The only good thing about a beret is that you could stuff it in your pocket at the NCO Club and not wrinkle it beyond repair.

    Vermont Hunting Accident Will Go To Trial 2009

  • Better yet, have you felt an urge to rid him of a certain beret, and pick out his clothes before he finds himself in a fashion emergency intervention?

    Twilight Lexicon » Dressing Up Twilight Style 2008

  • The Tinker in his white beret is usually placed at the rear of the local Royal Marines contingent because the ex-Commandoes in their green berets like to take the lead, but this year he was plucked from obscurity along with the only other WW II veteran, Tom, and promoted to the front row of the parade squad.

    11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 2007 2007

  • The Tinker in his white beret is usually placed at the rear of the local Royal Marines contingent because the ex-Commandoes in their green berets like to take the lead, but this year he was plucked from obscurity along with the only other WW II veteran, Tom, and promoted to the front row of the parade squad.

    42 entries from November 2007 2007

  • The Tinker in his white beret is usually placed at the rear of the local Royal Marines contingent because the ex-Commandoes in their green berets like to take the lead, but this year he was plucked from obscurity along with the only other WW II veteran, Tom, and promoted to the front row of the parade squad.

    11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 2007 2007

  • The man with the beret is the late chairman of the art history department at Columbia University and the beautiful young woman is his daughter, who is a stripper in Los Angeles.

    Charles Kuralt's America 1995

  • The beret was the Colonel's idea to show the troeps were different

    Army Rumour Service 2010

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