helmet

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.

   Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

2. 2
   verb

   To cover with, or as if with, a helmet.

   There was no nonsense about these women—no hysteria, no top-note emotion. They were not out for smashing windows or helmetting policemen, or blowing up things sky-high.

3. 3
   noun

   a protective headgear made of hard material to resist blows

4. 4
   noun

   armor plate that protects the head

5. 5
   noun

   That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.

Etymology

From Middle English helmet, helmett, a borrowing from Old French helmet, heaumet, a diminutive of helme (Modern French heaume), equivalent to helm + -et. The Old French is itself of Germanic origin (whence Old English helm). Used in English since the 15th century, it has largely displaced helm as the general word.