Head Definition
head
See also -head, head-, and Head
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English
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Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English hed, heed, heved, heaved, from Old English hēafod, from Proto-Germanic *haubudan (compare Old Norse haufuþ), from Proto-Indo-European *káput (compare Latin caput, Sanskrit कपुच्छल (kabúcchala) ‘nape hair, shorthairs’), variant of *kapōlo ‘head, bowl’ (compare Old English hafola ‘head’, Sanskrit kapālam ‘cup, bowl, skull’).
Pronunciation
Noun
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Wikipedia head (countable and uncountable; plural heads)
- (countable) The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
- Be careful when you pet that dog on the head; it may bite.
- (uncountable) Mental or emotional aptitude or skill.
- The company is looking for somebody with a good head for business.
- He has no head for heights.
- (countable) Mind; one's own thoughts.
- This song keeps going through my head.
- (countable) The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
- What does it say on the head of the page?
- The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor.
- During meetings, the supervisor usually sits at the head of the table.
- (billiards) The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked.
- (countable) The principal operative part of a machine.
- The end of a hammer, axe, golf club, or similar implement used for striking other objects.
- The end of a nail, screw, bolt, or similar fastener which is opposite the point; usually blunt and relatively wide.
- Hit the nail on the head!
- The sharp end of an arrow, spear, or pointer.
- The head of the compass needle is pointing due north.
- (lacrosse) The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball.
- The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it.
- The expedition followed the river all the way to the head.
- (Can we clean up(+) this sense?) The front, as of a queue.
- Because you got them all right, you can go to the head.
- Headway; progress.
- We are having a difficult time making head against this wind.
- The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages.
- Pour me a fresh beer; this one has no head.
- (countable) Leader; chief; mastermind.
- I'd like to speak to the head of the department.
- Police arrested the head of the gang in a raid last night.
- A headmaster or headmistress.
- I was called into the head's office to discuss my behaviour.
- A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘Thrown Away’, Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society 2005 edition, page 18,
- he took them seriously, too, just as seriously as he took the ‘head’ that followed after drink.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘Thrown Away’, Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society 2005 edition, page 18,
- A clump of leaves or flowers; a capitulum.
- Give me a head of lettuce.
- (anatomy) The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint.
- An individual person.
- Admission is three dollars a head.
- (uncountable, measure word for livestock and game) A single animal.
- 200 head of cattle and 50 head of horses
- 12 head of big cattle and 14 head of branded calves
- At five years of age this head of cattle is worth perhaps $40
- a reduction in the assessment per head of sheep
- they shot 20 head of quail
- The population of game.
- we have a heavy head of deer this year
- planting the hedges increased the head of quail and doves
- Topic; subject.
- We will consider performance issues under the head of future improvements.
- (linguistics) A morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member.
- (jazz) The principal melody or theme of a piece.
- (UK, geology) Deposits near the top of a geological succession.
- (medicine) The end of an abscess where pus collects.
- (uncountable) denouement; crisis
- These isses are going to come to a head today.
- A machine element which reads or writes electromagnetic signals to or from a storage medium.
- The heads of your tape player need to be cleaned.
- (music) The headstock of a guitar.
- (music) A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound.
- Tap the head of the drum for this roll.
- (engineering) The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel.
- (automotive) The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs.
- A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head.
- Let the engine build up a good head of steam.
- (fluid dynamics) The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point.
- (fluid dynamics) More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight.
- (nautical) The top edge of a sail.
- (nautical) The bow of a nautical vessel.
- (nautical) The toilet of a ship.
- I've got to go to the head.
- (uncountable, slang) Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.
- She gave great head.
- (slang) The glans penis.
- (countable, slang) A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs.
- 2005, Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home, Simon & Schuster, page 177,
- The hutch now looks like a “Turkish bath,” and the heads have their arms around one another, passing the pipe and snapping their fingers as they sing Smokey Robinson's “Tracks of My Tears” into the night.
- 2005, Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home, Simon & Schuster, page 177,
- (UK) A headland.
- (computing) The part of hard drives responsible for reading and writing data.
Quotations
- For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.
See also
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The human head.
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A flower head.
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Head of a comet.
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Head of the line.
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Arrow and spear heads.
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Head of a hammer.
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Head of a metal spike.
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Head of the hip bone.
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Head of a ship.
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Head of a sail.
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Head of a pressurized cylinder.
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Head of a two-stroke engine.
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Hydraulic head between two points.
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A read-write head.
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Head of a guitar.
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Head of a drum.
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Giving and getting head.
Synonyms
- (part of the body): caput; (slang) noggin, (slang) loaf, (slang) nut, (slang) noodle, (slang) bonce
- (mental aptitude or talent): mind
- (mental or emotional control): composure, poise
- (topmost part of anything): top
- (leader): boss, chief, leader
- (headmaster, headmistress): headmaster m., headmistress f., principal (US)
- (toilet of a ship): lavatory, toilet
- (top of a sail):
- (foam on carbonated beverages):
- (fellatio): blowjob, blow job, fellatio, oral sex
- (end of tool used for striking):
- (blunt end of fastener):
- See also Wikisaurus:head
Antonyms
- (topmost part of anything): base, bottom, underside
- (leader): subordinate, underling
- (blunt end of fastener): point, sharp end, tip
Usage notes
- To give something its head is to allow it to run freely. This is used for horses, and, sometimes, figuratively for vehicles.
Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun headAdjective
head (not comparable)
- Of, relating to, or intended for the head.
- Foremost in rank or importance.
- The head cook.
- Placed at the top or the front.
- Coming from in front.
- head sea
- head wind
Synonyms
Antonyms
- (coming from in front): tail
Translations
of, relating to, or intended for the head
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Verb
head (third-person singular simple present heads, present participle heading, simple past and past participle headed)
- (transitive) To be in command of. - see also head up
- Who heads the board of trustees?
- (transitive) To strike with the head; as in soccer, to head the ball
- (intransitive) To move in a specified direction. heading towards something
- (fishing) To remove the head from a fish.
- The salmon are first headed and then scaled.
Derived terms
Translations
(transitive) be in command of
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Related terms
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Anagrams
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