toque

Etymology 1

From Middle French toque (“toque”), from Arabic طَاقِيَّة (ṭāqiyya).

noun

1. A type of hat with no brim.
   Toques are for the most part indented in the mural style, in two rows, between which are placed marabout feathers. Flowers, feathers, ears of corn, in gold or silver: such are the chief ornaments on the heads of young ladies, either as separate decorations or all blended together. Black velvet toques are ornamented with marabout feathers of a light grey, mingled with a few ears of gold corn. 1824 January, La Belle Assemblée, volume 29, Fashions, page 32
   "Because Esmé said she was going out this afternoon to choose a new toque, and she hoped I should like it, and I’m not quite sure what it is, or where she'll wear it. Do you mind explaining?" "Not at all. A toque is that which if it had strings would be a bonnet, and if it had brim, would be a hat. It is worn on the head." "Thanks, now I know where I am," said the vicar of St. Machars, with a sigh of relief. 1903, Janet Elder Rait, Alison Howard, Archibald Constable & Co., page 273
   She drank a glass of wine mixed with water, took off her felt toque and her shoes, and slid beneath the red eiderdown. 1932, Julien Green, translated by Vyvyan Holland, The Strange River, Harper & Brothers, page 180
   1957—Samuel Beckett, "Endgame", In a dressing-gown, a stiff toque on his head, a large blood-stained handkerchief over his face, a whistle hanging from his neck, a rug over his knees, thick socks on his feet, Hamm seems to be asleep.
2. (specifically) A tall white hat with no brim of the sort worn by chefs
   Chef Felder was in her early forties, slender, with short wavy brown hair, almost all of which could be contained within her toque. 1999, Michael Ruhlman, The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Owl Books, page 154
   When I came to the back of a man's head, wearing a toque, I knew I'd spotted my quarry. "Chef Reynoso?" 2000, Jerrilyn Farmer, Killer Wedding, HarperCollins, page 103
   Minutes later, a red-faced man in a chef's toque approached our table. 2004, Laura Levine, Killer Blonde, Kensington Books, page 114
3. (by extension, informal) A chef.
   2007—October, Nicole Berrie, "Green Eggs and Sam", in Elle, page 360, Sam Mason first grabbed the spotlight as the pastry chef ... for being the most rock 'n' roll toque in town.
4. A variety of bonnet monkey; toque macaque, Macaca sinica.
5. (historical) An African nominal money of account, equal to 40 cowries.

Etymology 2

1871. Assimilated from Canadian French tuque. Likely to be a hypercorrection from the time that toque was already in the dictionaries when they did not yet list tuque as a kind of hat. The French word tuque for hat is itself not strictly a deformation of French toque: it is also related to other meanings of tuque and to its former name bonnet à la turque (lit. Turkish-style bunnet/cap).

noun

1. (Canada) A knitted hat, usually conical but of varying shape, often woollen, and sometimes topped by a pom-pom or tassel.
   Such is the demented nature of the universe that I was too weak to properly respond to my being hit on by carloads of Betties and Veronicas—all except for the cheeky Cheryl Anderson who gave me ‘manual release’ the day I lost my eye-brows, followed by a flood of tears and the snapping of Polaroids in which I wear a knit toque. Gush gush. 1998, Douglas Coupland, chapter 1, in Girlfriend in a Coma
   It was like entering the Millennial id. Craft beer and cucumber water poured from kitchen taps. Laptoppers in jeans and toques clacked along to MGMT in the wood-paneled common area. 2018 March, Laura Bliss, “How WeWork Has Perfectly Captured the Millennial Id”, in The Atlantic

Etymology 3

From Spanish toque.

noun

1. (music) A rhythm used in Latin music, especially Cuban religious rituals.
2. (music) The guitar part of flamenco music.