casque
/kɑːsk
/noun
1 historical A helmet.Typically, he is wearing a capitula or long shorts, knee socks, and a casque colonial or pith helmet....
- The Belgians understood this; the young reporter Tintin, clad in safari, capitula, and casque colonial, thwarted a ‘foreign’ threat to Belgium's Congolese Eldorado.
2 Zoology A helmet-like structure, such as that on the bill of a hornbill or the head of a cassowary.Thought to have diverged from other avian lines in the Late Cretaceous Period, the colorful animal can measure five feet tall from its helmetlike casque to its daggerlike foot spurs, and it weighs up to 125 pounds....
- How cassowaries produce their deep ‘boom’ is unclear, though Mack and his team speculate that cassowary communication is linked to the tall casques, or horn-like crests, that rise from the bird's head.
- The next reason is for commercially valuable by-products like horns, antlers, pelt, bones, feathers and casques.
Origin
Late 17th century: from French, from Spanish casco. Compare with cask.