dundrearies

plural noun

dun·​drea·​ries ˌdən-ˈdrir-ēz 

often capitalized

: long flowing sideburns

Did you know?

In the United States, Our American Cousin by Tom Taylor is often best remembered as the play Abraham Lincoln was watching at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Word lovers may also recall that the show gave us "dundrearies," a name for the long, bushy sideburns (called "Piccadilly weepers" in England). The term for that particular men's hair fashion, which was popular between 1840 and 1870, comes from the name of Lord Dundreary, a character in the play who sported those elegant whiskers. The name can also be used in the attributive form "dundreary whiskers."

Examples of dundrearies in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Berkman looked back at me, thrumming his dundrearies, uncomprehending. —Lawrence Weschler, The Atlantic, 7 Sep. 2020

Word History

Etymology

Lord Dundreary, character in the play Our American Cousin (1858), by Tom Taylor

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined above

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