Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Tress

Tress , noun

[Old English tresse, Old French trece, French tresse, Late Latin tricia, from Greek tri`cha threefold, because a tress is usually formed by interlacing three pieces; akin to trei^s three. See Three.]

1.
A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet.
Her yellow hair was braided in a tress. — Chaucer
Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare. — Pope
2.
Figuratively: A knot or festoon, as of flowers. — Keats