English

Alternative forms

• payos, payot, peyiss

Noun

payess pl ‎(plural only)

1. Sidelocks worn by Hasidic and Orthodox male Jews. [from 19th c.]
   • 1968, Jewish Currents, vol. 22, p. 18:

     With box or beads or peyiss, / Let each do his own thing.

   • 2006, Howard Jacobson, Kalooki Nights:

     'Manny? Sweet? Manny doesn't do sweet.'

     'Every man does sweet, Max. Even weird ones with payess.'

   • 2015, Mark Leibovich, The New York Times, 29 August:

     He showed me the items in his den, or ‘‘trophy room’’ — the cardboard cutout of Sinatra wearing Jewish payos, the portrait of King made entirely of jelly beans, his Emmy for Lifetime Achievement.

Synonyms

• sidelock

Translations