Etimology
From Middle English hed, heed, heved, heaved, from Old English hēafd-, hēafod (“head; top; source, origin; chief, leader; capital”), from Proto-West Germanic *haubud, from Proto-Germanic *haubudą (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *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 caput, cape, chef and chief.
noun
head (countable and uncountable, plural heads or head)
(countable) The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
(countable) The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
(social, countable, metonymically) A leader or expert.
A significant or important part.
Headway; progress.
Topic; subject.
(only in the singular) Denouement; crisis.
(fluid dynamics) Pressure and energy.
(slang, vulgar, uncountable) Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.
(slang) The glans penis.
(slang, countable) A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs.
(obsolete) Power; armed force.
Examples
Be careful when you pet that dog on the head; it may bite.
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.
The company is looking for people with good heads for business.
He has no head for heights.
It's all about having a good head on your shoulders.
This song keeps going through my head.
“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.”
He found whist, and gymkhanas, and things of that kind good; but he took them seriously, too, just as seriously as he took the “head” that followed after drink.
"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."
a laced head; a head of hair
Admission is three dollars a head.
[…] 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.
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
we have a heavy head of deer this year
planting the hedges increased the head of quail and doves
What does it say at the head of the page?
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.
During meetings, the supervisor usually sits at the head of the table.
Hit the nail on the head!
The head of the compass needle is pointing due north.
Tap the head of the drum for this roll.
The heads of your tape player need to be cleaned.
Pour me a fresh beer; this one has no head.
He never learned how to pour a glass of beer so it didn't have too much head.
Synonym: barrelhead
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.
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.
I'd like to speak to the head of the department.
Police arrested the head of the gang in a raid last night.
“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. […] ”
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.
I was called into the head's office to discuss my behaviour.
Only true heads know this.
The expedition followed the river all the way to the head.
Give me a head of lettuce.
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.
I've got to go to the head.
Heads. Tiles which are laid at the eaves of a house
We are having a difficult time making head against this wind.
We will consider performance issues under the head of future improvements.
These issues are going to come to a head today.
Northumberland, thou Ladder wherewithallThe 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 […]
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.
Hyponyms: head of steam, hydraulic head
Let the engine build up a good head of steam.
How much head do you have at the Glens Falls feeder dam?
She gave great head.
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.
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 "head."
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.
My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head:
Related words
synonyms
(part of the body): caput (anatomy); pate, noggin (slang), loaf (slang), nut (slang), noodle (slang), bonce (British slang)
(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): See Thesaurus:toilet and Thesaurus:bathroom
(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 Thesaurus:head
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "topmost part of anything"): base, bottom, underside, foot, tail
(antonym(s) of "leader"): subordinate, underling
(antonym(s) of "blunt end of fastener"): point, sharp end, tip
adjective
head (not comparable)
Of, relating to, or intended for the head.
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.)
(transitive) To come at the beginning or front of; to commence.
(transitive) To strike with the head; as in soccer, to head the ball
(intransitive) To move in a specified direction.
(fishing) To remove the head from a fish.
(intransitive) To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.
(intransitive) To form a head.
(transitive) To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head.
(transitive) To cut off the top of; to lop off.
(transitive, obsolete) To behead; to decapitate.
To go in front of.
To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.
(by extension) To check or restrain.
To set on the head.
Examples
Who heads the board of trustees?
to head an army, an expedition, or a riot
A group of clowns headed the procession.
The most important items headed the list.
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.
The citations are set in smaller font, start on a new indented line and are headed with a date.
We are going to head up North for our holiday.
We will head off tomorrow.
Next holiday we will head out West, or head to Chicago.
Right now I need to head into town to do some shopping.
I'm fed up working for a boss. I'm going to head out on my own, set up my own business.
Where does the train head to?
To the left towers the Jungfrau, with the train heading directly towards it.
The salmon are first headed and then scaled.
a broad purling river, that heads in the great blue ridge of mountains,
The Templeton heads in the Cloncurry ranges[.]
This kind of cabbage heads early.
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.
to head a nail
to head trees
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.
If you head, and hang all that offend that waybut for ten yeare together; you'll be glad to giue out aCommission for more heads
to head a drove of cattle
to head a person
The wind headed the ship and made progress difficult.
to head a cask
Related words
related terms
ahead
knucklehead
railhead
smackhead
Etimology
From Middle English heed, from Old English hēafod- (“main”), from Proto-West Germanic *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)
Foremost in rank or importance.
Placed at the top or the front.
Coming from in front.
Examples
the head cook
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.
head sea
head wind
Related words
synonyms
(foremost in rank or importance): chief, principal
(placed at the top or the front): first, top
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "coming from in front"): tail