helmet

noun

1. 1

   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.

   Most speedboarders wear helmets, knee and elbow pads, and occasionally all-in-one aerodynamic suits, to protect themselves.

2. 2

   That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc. The upper part of a chemist's retort.

3. 3

   That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc. The hood-shaped upper sepal or petal of some flowers, as of the monkshood or the snapdragon.

4. 4

   That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc. A naked shield or protuberance on the top or fore part of the head of a bird.

5. 5

   That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc. The glans penis.

   And it makes me sick, the thought of your lipstick on his helmet.

6. 6

   That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc. The glans penis. A contemptible or stupid person.

   Jarvo’s a stinky old helmet.

verb

1. 1

   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.

   COMRADE, I had done well with you to swear / Allegiance to the colors of romance / In the great days when our sweet mistress, France, / Girded her loins and helmetted her hair.

   And then they’re fleeing in a second rain of meteorites, their arms helmetting their heads, as they run away from us.

Forms

plural

helmets

past tense

helmeted, helmetted

past participle

helmeted, helmetted

present participle

helmeting, helmetting

third person singular

helmets