(Noun). A tubular scarf worn around the neck and most commonly known as a Neck Gaiter (US) in North America.
Snood comes from Old English snōd meaning ‘headdress’ which in turn derives from the Proto-Germanic snōdō meaning ‘rope or string’. This is because the original snood was a decorative headdress worn to contain a lady’s hair – in other words a posh hairnet. Many such nets were very elaborate made of braid with jewels at the knots. A plainer version was also a hairband worn by unmarried women in the North of England and Scotland.
You can see snoods worn by the female subjects of Holbein’s portraits of the Court of King Henry VIII – so they go back a long way. Over time, snoods came to be used to hold the hair against the nape of the neck and from there, it was just a short skip to the tubular scarf.
Similar meaning: Neck warmer, tubular scarf, Neck Gaiter (US).
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