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Origin of “Bangs” in “Hair Bangs”

The noun bangs, meaning “hair cut straight across the forehead,” may derive from the idea of the word bang meaning “abruptly,” as in a bangtail horse whose tail is trimmed straight across. The verb curtail, meaning to “cut off,” was first used to mean “dock a horse’s tail,” and then later applied more generally to mean “shorten” or “diminish.” This is part of a complete episode.

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