liberty cap

American  

noun

1. a soft, conical cap given to a freed slave in ancient Rome at manumission of his servitude, used as a symbol of liberty, especially since the 18th century.

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liberty cap British  

noun

1. a cap of soft felt worn as a symbol of liberty, esp during the French Revolution, from the practice in ancient Rome of giving a freed slave such a cap

2. a poisonous hallucinogenic basidiomycetous fungus, Psilocybe semilanceata, yellowish-brown with a distinctive pointed cap, found in groups in grassland

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Etymology

Origin of liberty cap

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

As you looked at certain works, it became difficult to tell whether the abstract shape was derived from the liberty cap or the shackle.

From Washington Post

Artist Dali who wears a knitted Catalan liberty cap whenever possible, takes surrealism in dead earnest, but has a faculty for publicity which should turn any circus pressagent green with envy.

From Time Magazine Archive

You had to concentrate to see that if a form curved this way, it was based on the liberty cap, but if it curved that way, it was based on the shackle.

From Washington Post

But somewhere along the line the olive branch was dropped, and for the head wreath Crawford substituted a liberty cap in a tribute to the freeing of the Phrygian slaves in ancient times.

From Time Magazine Archive

The liberty cap was first used as an emblem by the committee of safety organized at Philadelphia early in 1775.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy by Various