hennin

[ hen-in ]

noun

1. a conical or heart-shaped hat, sometimes extremely high, with a flowing veil or piece of starched linen about the crown, worn by women in the 15th century.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hennin¹

1850–55; < French, Middle French, perhaps < Middle Dutch henninck rooster, from a fancied resemblance of the hat to a rooster's comb

Example Sentences

I find that both M. Hennin and Mr. Akerman assert that Thebes is now called Stives.

From Project Gutenberg

In Hennin's Manuel de Numismatique Ancienne it is stated to be Satines or Atini; and Mr. Akerman, in his most excellent Numismatic Manual, makes the same statement.

From Project Gutenberg

The costumes were extravagantly fantastic: ladies carried on their head an enormous hennin, a very cumbrous kind of head-dress, surmounted by horns of such dimensions, that their exit or entrance into an apartment was a work of considerable difficulty.

From Project Gutenberg

Urbain Taillebert was also the sculptor of the magnificent "Christ Triumphant," suspended between the columns of the main entrance; and of the tomb of Antoine de Hennin, Bishop of Ypres, who died in 1626.

From Project Gutenberg

Wearing a hennin on her head, she was praying on bended knees before a stained-glass window.

From Project Gutenberg