DCHP-3

tête-de-femme

[< Cdn F tête-de-femme < F "woman's head"]
Northwest
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

n.

See niggerhead (def. 2a) 1898 quote.

See: niggerhead(def. 2a),woman's head

Quotations

1800
We took our course directly homeward . . . passing through trembliers, willows, tetes-de-femme, and small meadows.
1824
The valley and sides of the mountain as usual is soaked in snow water & from the number of knotty tufts of matted Grass & Moss Roots, the Canadians call Tetes de fammes is fatiguing to walk in. . . .
1890
These wallows are sometimes confounded by new-comers with the têtes des femmes as they are called, or rough depression and hummocks caused by fire penetrating and interlacing the sod.
1955
"Têtes de femmes"[,] small grass-covered hummocks of frozen earth, are often found in densely vegetated marshes in the north.