dunce cap

or dunce's cap


noun
  1. a tall, cone-shaped hat formerly worn by slow or lazy students as a punishment in school.

Origin of dunce cap

1
First recorded in 1830–40

Words Nearby dunce cap

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dunce cap in a sentence

  • He sat in school with a dunce-cap upon his head, or else played hookey and spent his hours in fishing, swimming or idling.

    The New Education | Scott Nearing

British Dictionary definitions for dunce cap

dunce cap

noun
  1. a conical paper hat, formerly placed on the head of a dull child at school

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012