DCHP-1 Online

tête-de-femme [< Cdn F tête-de-femme < F "woman's head"] Northwest

• n. See niggerhead (def. 2a) 1898 quote.

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

  • 1800  (1897)  We took our course directly homeward . . . passing through trembliers, willows, tetes-de-femme, and small meadows.
  • 1824  (1955)  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.