Brewer's: Barrette

Parler à la barrette (French). To give one a thump o' the head. The word barrette means the cap worn by the lower orders.

“Et moi, je pourrais bien parler à ta barrette.” Molière: L'Avare.

It is also used to signify the ordinary birretta of ecclesiastics and (probably) of French lawyers. Il à reçu le chapeau or la barrette. He has been made a cardinal.

“Le pape lui envoyait la barrette, mais elle ne servit qu'à le faire mourir cardinal.” —Voltaire: Siècle de Louis XIV, chap. xxxix.

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