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   tonsure

   /ˈtɒnʃə/

   noun

   • 1. a part of a monk's or priest's head left bare on top by shaving off the hair: "his hair is thinning up there—soon he'll have a tonsure like a monk's"
   • ▪ an act of shaving the top of a monk's or priest's head as a preparation for entering a religious order: "he received the tonsure"

   verb

   • 1. shave the hair on top of (a monk's or priest's head); give a tonsure to: "Louis's half-brothers were tonsured and sent away to monasteries"

   Word Origin late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin tonsura, from tondere ‘shear, clip’.

   Scrabble Points: 7

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