headgear

 

English Wikipedia has articles on:

headgear (disambiguation) and Headgear

Wikipedia Wikipedia

 

From head +‎ gear.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdɡɪə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

headgear (countable and uncountable, plural headgears)

1. (uncountable) Anything worn on the head, such as a hat, hood, helmet, etc.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 296:

     Grey hairs straggled out from under her head-gear, which surrounded a dark face with bushy eyebrows and a long knotted nose.

2. The harness that fits on a horse's head.
3. The lifting gear at the head of a mine or deep well.
4. (nautical) The rigging on the foresail.
5. (orthodontics) A type of orthodontic appliance attached to dental braces that aids in correcting severe bite problems.

• (clothing): headdress, headwear; see also Thesaurus:headwear
• (harness on a horse's head): bridle

• Heegaard, gear head, gearhead