tress

/trɛs/

Other forms: tresses

A tress is an old-fashioned word for a curl or braid, but it’s used more loosely now as a word for long hair. If someone admires your beautiful tresses, they love your long flowing hair. Congratulations, Rapunzel.

Use the noun tress for a curl or ringlet, or as part of a head full of carefully curled tresses. Tresses has changed in meaning over the years and now refers to any hairstyle, but especially a woman’s long unbound hair. This word derives from the Old French tresse, which may stem from the Vulgar Latin trichia, "braid or rope," and the Greek root trikhia, "rope."

Definitions of tress

1. noun

   (usually plural) a long lock of hair
   type of:

   curl, lock, ringlet, whorl

   a strand or cluster of hair
2. noun

   a hairdo formed by braiding or twisting the hair
   synonyms: braid, plait, twist

   types:

   queue

   a braid of hair at the back of the head

   pigtail

   a plait of braided hair

   type of:

   coif, coiffure, hair style, hairdo, hairstyle

   the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair)