Bertillonage
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An early form of biometric identification used on criminals by the French police, making use of distinguishing anthropometric measurements, such as head size, arm span and scars. historical, uncountable
- 2 A similar form of identification of used on racing greyhounds. broadly, uncountable
"Often these [clothing] labels are of more use than the so-called bertillonage, those eleven items of physical measurement and characteristics that must be recorded to make a positive identification but that are useless for anything else and find themselves at the bottom of desk drawers or in unused databases."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Often these [clothing] labels are of more use than the so-called bertillonage, those eleven items of physical measurement and characteristics that must be recorded to make a positive identification but that are useless for anything else and find themselves at the bottom of desk drawers or in unused databases."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from French bertillonnage; from the name of the inventor, Alphonse Bertillon.