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dreadlock

Other forms: dreadlocks

A dreadlock is a matted braid or rolled rope of hair, part of a style known as dreadlocks. Many reggae stars have dreadlocks; in fact, Bob Marley made dreadlocks a popular trend.

Sometimes dreadlocks are called "locks" or "locs," and for some Hindus they are a religious practice, a symbol of lack of vanity, and they're called "jata," or "twisted hair." Words in the Christian Bible about allowing locks of hair to grow without cutting have great importance to Rastafarians, followers of the Jamaican religious movement, and inspired their embrace of dreadlocks. The name dreadlocks comes in part from the idea of "fear (or dread) of God."

Definitions of dreadlock
  1. noun
    one of many long thin braids of hair radiating from the scalp; popularized by Rastafarians
    see moresee less
    type of:
    curl, lock, ringlet, whorl
    a strand or cluster of hair
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