mortarboard

[ mawr-ter-bawrd, -bohrd ]

noun

a board, usually square, used by masons to hold mortar.
Also called cap. a cap with a close-fitting crown surmounted by a stiff, flat, square piece from which a tassel hangs, worn as part of academic costume.

Origin of mortarboard

First recorded in 1850–55; mortar² + board

Words Nearby mortarboard

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

How to use mortarboard in a sentence

The ceremony at Georgetown University on Wednesday opened with the familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” as graduates, wearing robes and mortarboards with tassels, filed into the auditorium.
Georgetown Pivot Program offers ex-inmates a fresh start | Fredrick Kunkle | June 30, 2021 | Washington Post
Backstage earlier, McCaskill had given me tips on how to bobby pin the mortarboard cap to my head.
A College Degree Worth the Wait | Eleanor Clift | June 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Mr. Worthington pushed back his mortarboard and revealed the crimson chevron which it had bitten into his bald brow.
Rest Harrow | Maurice Hewlett
A right instinct sent him tiptoe over his lawn, another made him doff his mortarboard.
Rest Harrow | Maurice Hewlett
As for the mortarboard and gown, undergraduate opinion rather requires that they be left behind.
An American at Oxford | John Corbin

British Dictionary definitions for mortarboard

mortarboard

/ (ˈmɔːtəˌbɔːd) /

noun

a black tasselled academic cap with a flat square top covered with cloth
Also called: hawk a small square board with a handle on the underside for carrying mortar

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

Browse