Definitions

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

  • noun An artificial covering of human or synthetic hair worn on the head for personal adornment, as part of a costume, or to conceal baldness.
  • transitive verb To scold or censure.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sort of cake.
  • noun A beast of burden, as a horse or an ass.
  • To rate or scold severely.
  • To post a scout on the route of flight in a pigeon race, with a hen pigeon to attract the opponent's bird and retard his progress. Barrère and Leland.
  • noun An artificial covering of hair for the head, used generally to conceal baldness, but formerly worn as a fashionable head-dross.
  • noun The full-grown male fur-seal of Alaska, Callorhinus ursinus. See cut ununder fur-seal.
  • noun The head.

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

  • transitive verb Slang To censure or rebuke; to hold up to reprobation; to scold.
  • noun A covering for the head, consisting of hair interwoven or united by a kind of network, either in imitation of the natural growth, or in abundant and flowing curls, worn to supply a deficiency of natural hair, or for ornament, or according to traditional usage, as a part of an official or professional dress, the latter especially in England by judges and barristers.
  • noun An old seal; -- so called by fishermen.
  • noun (Bot.) See Smoke tree, under Smoke.

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

  • noun A head of real or synthetic hair worn on the head to disguise baldness; for cultural or religious reasons; for fashion; or by actors to help them better resemble the character they are portraying.
  • verb To put on a wig; to provide with a wig (especially of an actor etc.).
  • verb colloquial To upbraid, reprimand.
  • verb colloquial To become very excitable or emotional; to lose control of one's emotions.

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

  • noun hairpiece covering the head and made of real or synthetic hair
  • noun British slang for a scolding

Etymologies

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

[Short for periwig.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of periwig, itself an alteration of French perruque.

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Examples

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  • Originally periwig

    March 7, 2007