tonsure: Meaning and Definition of

ton•sure

1. the act of cutting the hair or shaving the head.
2. the shaving of the head or of some part of it as a religious practice or rite, esp. in preparation for entering the priesthood or a monastic order.
3. the part of a cleric's head, usually the crown, left bare by shaving the hair.
4. the state of being shorn.

1. to confer the ecclesiastical tonsure upon.
2. to subject to tonsure.