headshrinking
/ˈhɛdˌʃrɪŋkɪŋ/noun
1In certain tribal societies: the practice of preserving and shrinking the severed heads of enemies as a trophy. Now chiefly historical.
- In the process of headshrinking the skull is removed by a vertical incision at the back of the head, the holes for the eyes and mouth are sewn shut, and the skin is boiled, which causes shrinkage. The skin is then dried with heated rocks which continues the process of shrinking and enables the skin to be shaped into a distorted approximation of its original shape..
2 Informal (originally and chiefly US ). Treatment or analysis of a person's mental health; psychotherapy, psychiatry, or psychoanalysis.
Origin
1920s. From head + shrinking. Compare slightly earlier headshrinker.
- emplaster
- emplastic
- emplastration
- emplastrum
- emplectite
- emplecton
- empleomania
- empleomanía
- employ
- employability
- employable
- employedness
- employee
- employer
- employment
- employment agency
- employment agent
- employment bureau
- employment contract
- employment counsellor
- employment counselor
- employment exchange
- employment figure
- employment office
- employment protection