head
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- enPR: hĕd, (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /hɛd/Category:English 1-syllable words#HEADCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HEAD
- (Early Modern) IPA(key): /hɛd/, /hɛːd/[1]Category:English 1-syllable words#HEADCategory:English 1-syllable words#HEADCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HEAD
- (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /hed/Category:English 1-syllable words#HEADCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HEAD
- (Northumbrian) IPA(key): /hiːd/Category:English 1-syllable words#HEADCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HEAD
- Rhymes: -ɛdCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛd#HEADCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛd/1 syllable#HEAD
Etymology 1
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#HEADCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#HEAD hed heed, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#HEADCategory:English terms derived from Old English#HEAD hēafd-, hēafod (“head, top, chief”), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#HEADCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#HEAD *haubud, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#HEADCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#HEAD *haubudą (“head”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#HEADCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#HEAD *káput.
The modern word comes from Old English oblique stem hēafd-; the expected Modern English outcome for hēafod would be *heaved (similar to the Middle English word). Doublet of cape, capo, caput, chef, chief, and HowthCategory:English doublets#HEAD.
Cognate with Old English hafela (“head”), Scots heid, hede, hevid, heved (“head”), North Frisian hood (“head”), Dutch hoofd (“head”), German Haupt (“head”), Danish hoved (“head”), Faroese høvd, høvur (“head”), Icelandic höfuð (“head”), Norn heved (“head”), Norwegian hode (“head”), hoved- (“head, chief, main, principal”), Swedish huvud (“head”), Latin caput (“head”), Hindi कपाल (kapāl, “skull”), Sanskrit कपाल (kapāla, “skull”).
Noun
head (countable and uncountable, plural heads or head)Category:English lemmas#HEADCategory:English nouns#HEADCategory:English uncountable nouns#HEADCategory:English countable nouns#HEADCategory:English countable nouns#HEADCategory:English nouns with irregular plurals#HEADCategory:English indeclinable nouns#HEADCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HEADCategory:Pages with entries#HEADCategory:Pages with 2 entries#HEAD
- (countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD) The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
- Synonyms: caput, pate, (slang) noggin, loaf, nut, noodle, (UK slang) bonce; see also Thesaurus:head
- Be careful when you pet that dog on the head; it may bite.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 175:
- Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (people) To do with heads.
- Mental or emotional aptitude or skill.
- Synonym: mind
- The company is looking for people with good heads for business.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- He has no head for heights.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- It's all about having a good head on your shoulders.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 25:
- And each of a succession of teachers who tried to show me that mathematical answers were derived logically and not through some form of esoteric inspiration was forced to give up with the assurance that I had no head for figures. My father 'would read my school reports with a gloom which in other respects they scarcely warranted. His mind worked, I think, this way: no head for figures = no idea of finance = no money.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (figurative, metonymicCategory:English metonyms#HEAD) Mind; one's own thoughts.
- This song keeps going through my head.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:
- “Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke […] whom the papers are making such a fuss about.”Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Thrown Away”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.; London: W. Thacker & Co., →OCLC, page 15:
- He found whist, and gymkhanas, and things of that kind (meant to amuse one after office) good; but he took them seriously, too, just as seriously as he took the “head” that followed after drink.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 117:
- "Now you have done it, Spuds," said Cripps. "You'll have an awful head on you tomorrow."Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
- "Mornin', Tom," he said in a husky voice. Then as the wife left the room: "Got a drop of Scotch about? I've a head on me this morning."Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- A headdress; a covering for the head.
- a laced headCategory:English terms with collocations#HEAD
- a head of hairCategory:English terms with collocations#HEAD
- (figurative, metonymicCategory:English metonyms#HEAD) An individual person.
- Admission is three dollars a head.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, pages 196–197:
- […] but here we are obliged to diſcloſe ſome Maxims, which Publicans hold to be the grand Myſteries of their Trade. […] And, laſtly, if any of their Gueſts call but for little, to make them pay a double Price for every Thing they have ; ſo that the Amount by the Head may be much the ſame.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- Mental or emotional aptitude or skill.
- (animals) To do with heads.
- (plural head) A single animal; measure word for livestock and game.
- 200 head of cattle and 50 head of horsesCategory:English terms with collocations#HEAD
- The population of game.
- We have a heavy head of deer this year.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- The antlers of a deer.
- (plural head) A single animal; measure word for livestock and game.
- (countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD) The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
- Antonyms: base, bottom, underside, foot, tail
- What does it say at the head of the page?Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 243:
- Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- The end of a table.
- 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (billiardsCategory:en:Billiards#HEAD) The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked.
- The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor.
- (countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD) The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.
- 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.
- Antonyms: point, tip
- Hit the nail on the head!Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD, metalworkingCategory:en:Metalworking#HEAD, constructionCategory:en:Construction#HEAD, of a rivet):
- The larger-diameter end of an unused rivet, properly the factory head or ambiguously the shop head, as opposed to the bucktail which is passed through the items to be fastened and then upset into an appropriate shape, generally pancake-shaped for a solid rivet or doughnut-shaped for a blind rivet, called the field head or ambiguously the shop head.
- Either, or in plural both, ends of a used rivet, the factory head and the field head.
- The sharp end of an arrow, spear, or pointer.
- The head of the compass needle is pointing due north.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (lacrosseCategory:en:Lacrosse#HEAD) The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball.
- (musicCategory:en:Music#HEAD) A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound.
- Tap the head of the drum for this roll.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (computingCategory:en:Computing#HEAD) The part of a disk drive responsible for reading and writing data.
- (automotiveCategory:en:Automotive#HEAD) The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs.
- (machiningCategory:en:Machining#HEAD) A milling head, a part of a milling machine that houses the spindle.
- (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#HEAD, countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD) The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages.
- Pour me a fresh beer; this one has no head.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- He never learned how to pour a glass of beer so it didn't have too much head.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (engineeringCategory:en:Engineering#HEAD) The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel.
- (coopering) The end cap of a cask or other barrel.
- Synonym: barrelhead
- (geologyCategory:en:Geology#HEAD) The uppermost part of a valley.
- (BritishCategory:British English#HEAD, geologyCategory:en:Geology#HEAD) Deposits near the top of a geological succession.
- (journalismCategory:en:Mass media#HEAD) Ellipsis of headlineCategory:English ellipses#HEAD.
- 1968, Earl English, Clarence Hach, Scholastic Journalism, page 166:Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
- The content of a headline over a news story should be taken from the lead of the story. […] The head should give the same impression as the body of the story.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (medicineCategory:en:Medicine#HEAD) The end of an abscess where pus collects.
- (musicCategory:en:Music#HEAD) The headstock of a guitar.
- (nauticalCategory:en:Nautical#HEAD) A leading component.
- (BritishCategory:British English#HEAD) A headland.
- A title or heading in a book or other document.
- 1807, George Burnett, Specimens of English Prose Writers, page 351:
- In this repositary, the phenomena of nature are ranged under three principal heads.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (social, countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD, metonymicCategory:English metonyms#HEAD) A leader or expert.
- Synonyms: boss, chief, leader
- Antonym: subordinate
- I'd like to speak to the head of the department.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- Police arrested the head of the gang in a raid last night.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- “I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […] ”Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- The place of honor or command; the most important or foremost position; the front.
- 1708, Joseph Addison, The present state of the war, and the necessity of an augmentation, consider'd, page 33:
- We saw the last Campaign that an Army of Fourscore Thousand of the best Troops in Europe, with the Duke of Marlborough at the Head of them, cou'd do nothing against an Enemy that were too numerous to be assaulted in their Camps, or attack'd in their Strong Holds.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (UKCategory:British English#HEAD, IrelandCategory:Irish English#HEAD, metonymicCategory:English metonyms#HEAD) A headteacher.
- Synonyms: headmaster, headmistress, (US) principal
- 1992 June 24, Edwina Currie, Diary:
- At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...' / She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking. / As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- I was called into the head's office to discuss my behaviour.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (musicCategory:en:Music#HEAD, slangCategory:English slang#HEAD, figurative, metonymicCategory:English metonyms#HEAD) A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop.
- Only true heads know this.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- A significant or important part.
- A beginning or end, a protuberance.
- 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum.
- Give me a head of lettuce.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 14 August 2013:
- Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […] . In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (anatomyCategory:en:Anatomy#HEAD) The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint.
- (nauticalCategory:en:Nautical#HEAD) The toilet of a ship.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:toilet, Thesaurus:bathroom
- I've got to go to the head.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (in the plural) Tiles laid at the eaves of a house.
- 1875, Edward H. Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, vol. II, page 1086
- Heads. (Roofing.) Tiles which are laid at the eaves of a house
- 1875, Edward H. Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, vol. II, page 1086
- The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it.
- A component.
- (jazzCategory:en:Jazz#HEAD) The principal melody or theme of a piece.
- (linguisticsCategory:en:Linguistics#HEAD) 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.
- Holonym: phrase
- 2022, Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, Brett Reynolds, A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, page xvi:
- Linguists will see that we reject some assumptions quite widely held in twentieth-century generative linguistics. The differences are sharp and explicit enough that they should provide grounds for discussion without causing confusion. For example, we do not believe subordinators (‘complementizers’) or coordinators (‘conjunctions’) are heads, and we treat every day as a noun phrase headed by day rather than a determinative phrase headed by every. […] That does not mean we are legislating a theoretical view: it is always possible to stop and ask whether certain facts about syntax are better explained under one theoretical conception rather than another.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (chemistryCategory:en:Chemistry#HEAD) The first fraction of a distillation run, having a low boiling point.
- A beginning or end, a protuberance.
- Headway; progress.
- We are having a difficult time making head against this wind.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- Topic; subject.
- We will consider performance issues under the head of future improvements.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (only in the singular) Denouement; crisis.
- These issues are going to come to a head today.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 41:
- Northumberland, thou Ladder wherewithall / The mounting Bullingbrooke aſcends my Throne, / The time ſhall not be many houres of age, / More then it is, ere foule ſinne, gathering head, / Shall breake into corruption […]Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- 1712 October 18, anonymous letter in The Spectator, edited by Joseph Addison, no. 513, collected in The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq, Birmingham: John Baskerville, published 1761, volume IV, page 10:
- The indiſpoſition which has long hung upon me, is at laſt grown to ſuch an head, that it muſt quickly make an end of me, or of itſelf.
- (fluid dynamicsCategory:en:Fluid dynamics#HEAD) Pressure and energy.
- (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#HEAD, countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD) A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head.
- Hyponyms: head of steam, hydraulic head
- Let the engine build up a good head of steam.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- How much head do you have at the Glens Falls feeder dam?Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point.
- More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight.
- (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#HEAD, countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD) A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head.
- (slangCategory:English slang#HEAD, vulgarCategory:English vulgarities#HEAD, uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#HEAD) Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.
- Synonyms: blowjob; see also Thesaurus:oral sex
- She gave great head.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- Danny got head last night.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (slangCategory:English slang#HEAD) The glans penis.
- (slangCategory:English slang#HEAD, countableCategory:English countable nouns#HEAD) A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs.
- 1936, Lee Duncan, Over The Wall, Dutton:
- Then I saw the more advanced narcotic addicts, who shot unbelievable doses of powerful heroin in the main line – the vein of their arms; the hysien users; chloroform sniffers, who belonged to the riff-raff element of the dope chippeys, who mingled freely with others of their kind; canned heat stiffs, paragoric hounds, laudanum fiends, and last but not least, the veronal heads.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- 1968, Fred Davis with Laura Munoz, “Heads and freaks: patterns and meanings of drug use among hippies”, in Journal of Health and Social Behavior, volume 9, number 2, pages 156–64:
- The term, "head," is, of course, not new with hippies. It has a long history among drug users generally, for whom it signified a regular, experienced user of any illegal drug—e.g., pot "head," meth "head," smack (heroin) "head."Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- 2004, Martin Torgoff, “Next Stop is Vietnam”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, 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.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#HEAD) Power; armed force.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 100:
- My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head:Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
Gallery
- The human head
- A flower head
- Head of a comet
- Head of the line
- Arrow and spear heads
- Head of a hammer
- Head of a metal spike
- Head of the hip bone
- Head of a ship
- Head of a sail
- Head of a pressurized cylinder
- Head of a two-stroke engine
- Hydraulic head between two points
- A read-write head
- Head of a guitar
- Head of a drum
Derived terms
- acidhead
- addlehead
- ahead
- airhead
- air-head
- angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin, angels dancing on the head of a pin
- applehead
- arrow-head, arrowhead
- arsehead
- arse over head
- Asaro head
- Asaro's head
- asshead
- axe head, axhead
- baby's head
- backhead
- backheader
- Badger Head
- bagel head
- bakehead
- baldhead, bald head
- Ballast Head
- ballhead
- ball-head onion
- balloon head
- bandhead
- bang one's head against a brick wall
- bang some heads together
- Bankhead
- barrel-head, barrel head
- Barwon Heads
- bash someone's head
- Bay Head
- bayhead
- Bayonet Head
- beach head, beachhead, beach-head
- Beachy Head
- beak-head
- beakhead
- beat one's head against a stone wall
- bed head, bedhead
- bed's head
- beefhead
- beetlehead
- behead
- besom-head
- big-head
- big head, bighead
- billethead
- billhead
- Birkenhead
- bite someone's head off
- bitt-heads
- blackhead
- Black Head
- blanket head
- blockhead, block-head, block head
- bloodhead
- blubberhead
- bluehead
- blunderhead
- bobblehead
- bobble-head doll syndrome
- bollockhead
- bolthead
- bonehead
- bone head
- bonnethead
- boss head
- bottlehead
- bowhead
- boxhead, Box Head
- Braehead
- Bray Head
- bread-head
- breadhead
- brickhead
- bridgehead
- bring to a head
- bristlehead
- broadhead
- Broken Head
- Brooms Head
- brownhead
- Brunswick Heads
- brush head
- bubble-head, bubblehead
- bucket-head, bucket head
- bufferhead
- bufflehead
- bulkhead
- bullet-head
- bullhead
- bullheaded
- bum head
- bunhead
- Burleigh Heads
- Burnett Heads
- burrhead
- Burrum Heads
- bury one's head in the sand
- busthead
- butterhead
- butthead
- butt heads
- by a head
- cabbagehead, cabbage-head, cabbage head
- Camden Head
- case head
- cash on the barrel head
- cash on the barrel-head
- cathead
- cat-head
- cattlehead
- cheesehead
- chickenhead
- chiphead
- chowder head
- chowder-head
- chubhead
- chucklehead
- chunderhead
- Circular Head
- cittern-head
- clearheaded
- clithead
- clubhead
- clusterhead
- cockhead
- cockshead
- coconut head
- cohead
- cokehead
- coke head
- come head
- come to a head
- concrete-head
- Cone-head
- Conehead
- cooler heads must prevail
- cooler heads prevail
- cooler heads will prevail
- cool head
- coolheaded
- cool heads must prevail
- cool heads prevail
- cool heads will prevail
- copperhead
- crackhead, crack head
- craphead
- crappit-head
- crazyhead
- Crescent Head
- Crimhead
- crisphead
- crosshead
- Crowdy Head
- cubbridge-head
- cunthead
- cuphead
- Curehead
- curlyhead
- cutterhead
- cylinder head
- cylinder-head-sector
- deadhead
- death's head
- deaths-head, death's-head
- death's-head hawkmoth
- death's head moth
- deckhead
- dehead
- Diamond Head
- diaper-head
- dick-head
- dickhead
- dirthead
- doghead
- dole head
- dolehead
- Dolphin Heads
- dolthead
- don't worry your pretty little head
- doodie head
- doodlehead
- dopehead
- do someone's head in
- dothead
- doughhead
- dragonhead
- dragon's head
- drawhead
- drillhead
- drivehead
- drophead
- dropped head syndrome
- drowsihead
- drumhead
- drum-head court
- dullhead
- dumbhead
- duncehead
- dunderhead
- Dunnet Head
- Dykehead
- eat one's head off
- egghead
- eggheaded
- E-head
- eigenhead
- Elliott Heads
- erase head
- Evans Head
- exploding head syndrome
- factory head
- Fairhead
- Fair Head
- farthead
- fathead
- featherhead
- feeder head
- feed head
- felling head
- femur head
- fenderhead
- fiddlehead
- field head
- figure-head
- figurehead
- Fingal Head
- fish-head
- fishhead
- fish head
- fixed head coupé
- Flathead
- flathead
- flinthead
- flip on its head
- floorhead
- flower head
- fluffhead
- forehead
- Forest Head
- forkhead
- fountainhead
- fringehead
- from head to toe
- fucked in the head
- fuckhead
- fullhead
- funny in the head
- fused head
- Gable Head
- game-head
- Garelochhead
- Garsdale Head
- Gateshead
- gear head
- gearhead
- geek someone's head up
- get into someone's head
- get one's head around
- get one's head out of one's ass
- get one's head out of the gutter
- get one's head right
- get one's head straight
- get one's head together
- get through one's head
- gilthead
- gilt-head
- gilt-head bream
- give head
- give one's head a shake
- give someone his head
- give someone his head on a plate
- give someone his head on a platter
- give someone their head
- give your head a wobble
- go and boil your head
- goldhead
- good head on one's shoulders
- go over someone's head
- go soak your head
- go to someone's head
- granola-head
- Grassy Head
- grayhead
- greasehead
- Greathead
- Green Head
- green head
- greenhead
- greyhead
- gristlehead
- half a head
- Halls Head
- hammerhead
- hand over head
- hand someone his head
- hand someone his head on a plate
- hand someone his head on a platter
- hand someone their head
- hand someone their head on a plate
- hand someone their head on a platter
- hang one's head
- hang over someone's head
- hardheaded
- hard head, hardhead
- harm a hair on someone's head
- hashhead
- hat head, Hat Head
- have a head for
- have a head on one's shoulders
- have a thick head
- have a turtle's head
- have eyes in the back of one's head
- have one's head read
- have one's head screwed on
- have one's head screwed on right
- have one's head screwed on straight
- have one's head screwed on the right way
- have one's head up one's ass
- have someone's blood on one's head
- have someone's head
- hayhead
- -head
- head-ache
- headache
- headachingly
- headage
- headake
- head and ears
- head and shoulders
- head band
- headband
- headbang
- head bang
- headbanger
- headbanging
- head beetler
- headbin
- head binding
- head blight
- headblock
- headboard
- head boat
- headbobbing
- head bobble
- head bolt
- head-bolt
- headbolt
- head-bolt heater
- head bolt heater
- head boom
- headbox
- head boy
- headbutt
- head-butt
- head butt
- head butter
- head-butter
- headcam
- headcanon
- headcarry
- head-case
- headcase, head case
- head cell
- headchair
- head cheese
- head chef
- headchopper
- head chute
- headcloth
- head coach
- headcode
- head coil
- head cold
- headcollar
- head collar
- head cook and bottle washer
- head cook and bottle-washer
- headcount
- head count
- head counter
- headcover
- head cover
- head covering
- head crash
- headcut
- headdesk
- head doctor
- head down, bum up
- head-dress
- headdress
- head dress
- head earing
- headectomy
- head-emptier
- headend
- header
- head fake
- headfast
- head-final
- headfire
- head first
- headfirst, head-first
- headfish
- headfit
- headflip
- headfold
- headfooter
- headforemost
- headframe
- headfuck
- headfuckery
- headful
- head game
- head-game
- head gasket
- headgate
- headgear
- head girl
- head groom
- headground
- head group
- headgroup
- headguard
- headhair
- headhigh
- head honcho
- headhood
- head-hop
- headhouse
- head house
- head hunter
- headhunter
- head-hunter
- headhunt, head-hunt
- headie
- headily
- headiness
- heading
- head-initial
- head in the clouds
- head in the sand
- head-in-the-sand
- headish
- head joint
- head-kerchief
- headkerchief
- head kidney
- head lad
- headlamp
- headland
- head landlord
- headlap
- head lease
- headlease
- headless
- headlight
- headlike
- head-like
- head like a sieve
- head line
- headline
- headliner
- head linesman
- headling
- headlit
- headload
- headlock
- headlong
- head loss
- headloss
- head louse
- headlouse
- headly
- headman
- head man
- headmark
- headmaster
- headmate
- headmistress
- headmold
- head-mold-shot
- head money
- headmost
- headmould
- head-mould-shot
- headmount
- head movement
- head note
- headnote
- head-note
- head office
- head of government
- head of hair
- head of household
- head of navigation
- head of state
- head of steam
- head on
- head-on
- head-on collision
- head on one's shoulders
- head orgasm
- head over ears
- head over heels
- headpad
- headpan
- headpat
- headphone
- headphones
- headpiece
- headpin
- headpole
- headpost
- head pressing
- head priest
- headprint
- head pump
- headquarter
- headquarters
- head race
- headrace
- head-race
- head rag
- headrail
- head reach
- headrest
- head restraint
- head rhyme
- headright
- headring
- head-ring
- headroach
- head roll
- headroom
- headrope
- headrush
- head rush
- heads
- headsail
- heads and thraws
- headscarf
- head-scarf
- head scarf
- head scratcher
- head-scratcher
- head-scratching
- head scratching
- heads down
- heads-down
- head sea
- headset
- headshake
- headshaking
- headshape
- headshaping
- headsheet
- headshell
- headshield
- headship
- head shop
- headshot
- headshrink
- head-shrinker
- headshrinker
- headshunt, head shunt
- head-shy
- head shy
- headsign
- headslapper
- headsman
- Heads Nook
- Heads of Ayr
- heads of terms
- heads of the bill
- Heads of the Valleys Road
- heads or harps
- head south
- head space
- head-space
- headspace
- headspin
- head-spinning
- head-spinningly
- headspring
- headsquare
- headstall
- headstamp
- headstand
- headstander
- head start, headstart
- head station
- headstay
- headstead
- headstick
- headstock
- headstone
- headstrap
- headstream
- headstripe
- headstroke
- headstrong
- heads-up
- heads up
- heads-up digitizing
- heads-up display
- heads will roll
- headswoman
- head tax
- head teacher
- headteacher
- head tenant
- headterm
- head-the-ball
- head-tire
- headtire
- head to foot
- head to head
- head-to-head
- headtorch
- head to tail
- head-to-toe
- head to toe
- head to wind
- headtracking
- head trip
- head-trip
- headtube
- head tube
- head-turner
- head unit
- head up
- head-up display
- head valve
- head voice
- headwaiter
- head wall
- headwall
- headward
- headwards
- headwark
- headwater
- headwaters
- headway
- headwear
- headwheel
- headwind
- head wind
- head wobble
- headword
- headwork
- headworker
- headworks
- headwound
- headwrap
- heady
- headyard
- heap coals of fire on someone's head
- heels over head
- hex head bolt
- hex head screw
- hex head wrench
- Hilton Head
- hindhead
- hit the head
- hit the nail on the head
- hoarhead
- hoghead
- hogshead
- hold a gun to someone's head
- hold one's head above water
- hold one's head high
- hold over someone's head
- hole in the head
- hophead
- hornyhead
- horsehead
- horse head fiddle
- horse-head fiddle
- horsehead fiddle
- hot-head
- hothead
- hotheaded
- househead
- Hull Heads
- idlehead
- Indented Head
- in one's head
- is your head cold
- jarhead
- jerkinhead
- jibhead
- jighead
- jolter head
- jolt head nail
- jughead
- juice head
- juice-head
- juicehead
- junk head
- junkhead
- Kangaroo Head
- keep a civil tongue in one's head
- keep a cool head
- keep one's head
- keep one's head above the water
- keep one's head above water
- keep one's head below the parapet
- keep one's head down
- keep one's head on a swivel
- keep one's head on one's shoulders
- keep one's head upon one's shoulders
- King Charles' head
- King Charles's head
- knighthead
- knobhead
- knob head
- knock on the head
- knock someone's head off
- knothead
- know one's head from a hole in the ground
- know one's head from one's ass
- know one's own head
- knucklehead
- kraalhead
- lakehead
- lame-head
- lamehead
- lancehead
- lark's head
- laugh one's head off
- lay one's head
- leatherhead
- Leithead
- Lennox Head
- letterhead
- level head
- level-headed, levelheaded
- L-head
- lighthead
- lightheaded
- like a bear with a sore head
- like a chicken with its head cut off
- like a chicken with its head off
- like a chicken with no head
- like a hole in one's head
- like a hole in the head
- like one needs a hole in the head
- linthead
- lionhead
- lionhead cichlid
- lionhead rabbit
- Lion's Head
- little head
- live rent free in someone's head
- live rent-free in someone's head
- Lochearnhead
- lofthead
- loggerhead
- longhead
- longheaded
- loose head
- loosehead
- lose her head
- lose his head
- lose one's head
- lose one's head if it wasn't attached
- lose their head
- Low Head
- lowlihead
- lunkhead
- mace head
- machine head
- Macquarie Heads
- mad as a bear with a sore head
- madhead
- Maidenhead
- mainmast head
- make head against
- make head nor tail of
- make head or tail of
- make like a baby and head out
- make neither head nor tail of
- make someone's head spin
- masthead
- matchhead
- meathead
- medusahead
- melon head
- metalhead
- midhead
- mill head
- molehead
- monk's head
- mophead
- mop head
- Moruya Heads
- muddlehead
- mufflehead
- Muirhead
- mullethead
- multihead
- muscle head
- mushhead
- mushroom head
- muttonhead
- nailhead
- nail the hammer on the head
- Nambucca Heads
- nappyhead
- narrowhead
- need one's head examined
- negrohead
- Negro-head
- nethead
- niggerhead
- nigger-head
- nigger head
- nob head
- nob-head
- nobhead
- nonhead
- noodlehead
- Noosa Heads
- Norah Head
- Northhead
- notehead
- not right in the head
- numbhead
- nuthead
- nut-head
- nut head
- object head
- oblique head
- off one's head
- off the top of one's head
- off with someone's head
- off with their head
- of its own head
- old head on young shoulders
- one's head off
- on one's head
- on your head be it
- other head
- out of one's head
- overhead
- over head and ears
- over one's head
- over the head
- oxhead
- Panhead
- pants-on-head
- pecker head
- peckerhead
- peghead
- penishead
- Peterhead
- P-Head
- Phillips head
- picklehead
- picky head
- pierhead
- pighead
- pigheaded
- pikehead
- pillhead
- pinhead
- pin-head
- pisshead
- pithead, pit head
- pitot head
- plainhead
- planes of the head
- ploughhead
- plume head
- podhead
- pointy head
- polehead
- pole-head
- pole head
- poohead
- poophead
- poopyhead
- pope's head
- poppy head
- poppyhead
- potato head
- potato-head
- pothead
- Potterhead
- powerhead
- prehead
- pressure head
- price on someone's head
- printhead
- print head
- prohead
- propeller head
- propeller-head
- propellor head
- puddinghead
- pull one's head in
- pumpkin head
- put a civil tongue in one's head
- put a gun to someone's head
- put heads together
- put into one's own head
- put one's head above the parapet
- put one's head in the sand
- put out of one's head
- putzhead
- puzzlehead
- puzzleheaded
- queer in the head
- raghead
- rail head, railhead
- raise one's head
- rattlehead
- raw-head and bloody-bones
- read/write head
- read head
- rear one's head
- rear one's ugly head
- recording head
- redhead
- redheaded
- Redhead, Red Head
- rehead
- Ribblehead
- ridgehead
- ringhead
- rip someone's head off
- Riverhead
- River Heads
- road head
- rockhead
- rocks in one's head
- roid-head
- roof over one's head
- ropehead
- rosehead
- roughhead
- roundhead
- Roundhead
- rowel-head
- rubberhead
- rudderhead
- rughead
- run around like a chicken with its head cut off
- runghead
- running head
- saphead
- scaghead
- scaldhead
- scare-head
- scoophead
- Scotts Head
- scratch one's head
- scream one's head off
- screw head, screwhead
- scrollhead
- scumhead
- seedhead
- shake one's head
- sharp short-lived head pain
- sheepshead
- sheep's head
- sherm head
- sherm-head
- Shoalhaven Heads
- shockhead
- shop head
- short head
- short-head seahorse
- shovelhead
- shower head
- showerhead
- shut one's head
- sidehead
- sillyhead
- silverhead
- Skennars Head
- skinhead
- sled head
- sled-head
- sledhead
- sleepyhead, sleepy head
- slickhead
- slimehead
- sliphead
- slopehead
- slow head
- sluthead
- smackhead
- smash someone's head
- smeghead
- smh one's head
- snakehead
- snake's head
- snake's-head
- snakeshead
- snaphead
- snapperhead
- snap someone's head off
- snothead
- softhead
- softheaded
- soft in the head
- sorehead
- sound head
- South Bird's Head
- spear-head
- spearhead
- spermhead
- spinyhead
- Spithead
- split head
- spreadhead
- springhead
- sprinkler head
- spud head
- squarehead
- stagehead
- stairhead
- stakehead
- standing on one's head
- stand on one's head
- steelhead
- steering head
- stemhead
- stick one's head in the sand
- stink head
- Stony Head
- strawhead
- stupid-head
- subhead
- subheading
- suedehead
- superhead
- Swansea Heads
- swelled head
- swellhead
- table head
- tailhead
- take it into one's head
- take someone's head off
- take something to the head
- talking head
- talk over someone's head
- talk someone's head off
- tech-head
- tech head
- tetched in the head
- T-head
- the fish rots from the head
- The Head
- the head fred
- the sky will fall on your head
- thickhead
- thickheaded
- think with one's little head
- think with one's other head
- thornhead
- thunderhead
- tight head
- tighthead
- tight-head
- timberhead
- tithead
- too much bed makes a dull head
- Torx head
- touched in the head
- towelhead
- towhead
- tow-head
- Town Head, Townhead
- trailhead
- trail head
- Trevose Head
- trundlehead
- Tully Heads
- tuning head
- Turk's head, turk's head
- turn heads
- turnip head
- turn on its head
- turn someone's head
- Tuross Head
- turret head
- turtlehead
- Tweed Heads
- Tweed Heads South
- Tweed Heads West
- two heads are better than one
- typehead
- underhead
- uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
- unhead
- upside the head
- use one's head
- veg-head
- wankhead
- warhead
- Wasdale Head
- waterhead
- Wearhead
- weedhead
- weeniehead
- wellhead
- West Bird's Head
- West Quoddy Head
- wethead
- wet the baby's head
- whitehead
- Whitehead
- Whiteheads Creek
- wig head
- windmills in one's head
- winghead
- wirehead
- wisehead
- wise head on young shoulders
- with one's head held high
- wolf's head
- woodenhead
- Woody Head
- woolhead
- woolly-head
- would lose one's head if it wasn't attached
- would lose one's head if it wasn't bolted on
- would lose one's head if it wasn't glued on
- would lose one's head if it wasn't screwed on
- would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on
- would lose one's head if it wasn't tied on
- would lose one's head if it weren't attached
- wrap one's head around
- write head
- wronghead
- wrongheaded
- yellowhead
- you can't put an old head on young shoulders
- you can't put a wise head on young shoulders
- young head
- Young Nick's Head
- your head
- ziphead
- zipperhead
Descendants
Translations
Adjective
head (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#HEADCategory:English adjectives#HEADCategory:English uncomparable adjectives#HEADCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HEADCategory:Pages with entries#HEADCategory:Pages with 2 entries#HEAD
Translations
Verb
head (third-person singular simple present heads, present participle heading, simple past and past participle headed)Category:English lemmas#HEADCategory:English verbs#HEADCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HEADCategory:Pages with entries#HEADCategory:Pages with 2 entries#HEAD
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HEAD) To be in command of. (See also head up.)
- Who heads the board of trustees?Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- to head an army, an expedition, or a riotCategory:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HEAD) To come at the beginning or front of; to commence.
- A group of clowns headed the procession.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- The most important items headed the list.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine, page 325:
- When it arrived, the train was headed by a "K" class 4-6-0 wood-burning locomotive, and a water-tank wagon next to the tender was immediately besieged by women and girls, clad in their picturesque national costume, all with empty kerosene tins for water, a scene which was re-enacted at each stop down the line.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- 2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, , page 491:
- The citations are set in smaller font, start on a new indented line and are headed with a date.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HEAD) To strike with the head
- to head the ballCategory:English terms with collocations#HEAD
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#HEAD) To move in a specified direction.
- Synonyms: seek, bear
- We are going to head up North for our holiday.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- We will head off tomorrow.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- Next holiday we will head out West, or head to Chicago.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- Right now I need to head into town to do some shopping.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- I'm fed up working for a boss. I'm going to head out on my own, set up my own business.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- Where does the train head to?Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 752:
- To the left towers the Jungfrau, with the train heading directly towards it.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (fishingCategory:en:Fishing#HEAD, transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HEAD) To remove the head from (a fish).
- Coordinate terms: boneCategory:English links with manual fragments#HEAD, deboneCategory:English links with manual fragments#HEAD, gutCategory:English links with manual fragments#HEAD, scaleCategory:English links with manual fragments#HEAD, descaleCategory:English links with manual fragments#HEAD
- Near-synonyms: beheadCategory:English links with manual fragments#HEAD, deheadCategory:English links with manual fragments#HEAD
- The salmon are first headed and then scaled.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#HEAD) To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.
- 1775, James Adair, The History of the American Indians, page 223:
- a broad purling river, that heads in the great blue ridge of mountains,Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- 1934, Henry G. Lamond, An Aviary on the Plains, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 156:
- The Templeton heads in the Cloncurry ranges[.]Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#HEAD) To form a head.
- This kind of cabbage heads early.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1995, Anne Raver, “Gandhi Gardening”, in Deep in the Green: An Exploration of Country Pleasures, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN:
- To be honest, this hasn't been my Garden of Eden year. […] The lettuce turned bitter and bolted. The Green Comet broccoli was good, but my coveted Romanescos never headed up.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HEAD, of hardware) To form a head (on or to); to fit or furnish (something) with a head.
- to head a nailCategory:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HEAD) To cut off the top of; to lop off.
- to head treesCategory:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HEAD, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#HEAD) To behead; to decapitate.
- 1822, Allan Cunningham, “Ezra Peden”, in Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry, volume 1, page 37:
- I tell thee, man of God, the uncharitableness of the sect to which thou pertainest has thronged the land of punishment as much as those who headed, and hanged, and stabbed, and shot, and tortured.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
- If you head, and hang all that offend that wayCategory:English terms with quotations#HEAD
but for ten yeare together; you'll be glad to giue out a
Commission for more heads
- To go in front of.
- to head a drove of cattleCategory:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- to head a personCategory:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.
- The wind headed the ship and made progress difficult.Category:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- (by extension) To check or restrain.
- To set on the head.
- to head a caskCategory:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Etymology 2
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#HEADCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#HEAD heed, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#HEADCategory:English terms derived from Old English#HEAD hēafod- (“main”), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#HEADCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#HEAD *haubida-, derived from the noun *haubid (“head”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian hööft-, West Frisian haad-, Dutch hoofd-, German Low German höövd-, German haupt-.
Adjective
head (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#HEADCategory:English adjectives#HEADCategory:English uncomparable adjectives#HEADCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HEADCategory:Pages with entries#HEADCategory:Pages with 2 entries#HEAD
- Foremost in rank or importance.
- Synonym: chief
- the head cookCategory:English terms with usage examples#HEAD
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 307:
- At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.Category:English terms with quotations#HEAD
- Placed at the top or the front.
- Coming from in front.
Translations
References
- ↑ Dobson, E[ric] J. (1957), English pronunciation 1500-1700, second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 30, page 502.
Anagrams
Category:en:Body parts#HEADCategory:en:Animal body parts#HEADCategory:en:Cuts of meat#HEADCategory:en:Leaders#HEADEstonian
Adjective
headCategory:Estonian non-lemma forms#HEADCategory:Estonian adjective forms#HEADCategory:Estonian entries with incorrect language header#HEADCategory:Pages with entries#HEADCategory:Pages with 2 entries#HEAD
- inflection of hea:



