head formn.
/ˈhɛd fɔːm/, U.S. /ˈhɛd ˈfɔrm/ 1. Physical Anthropology. The form of the head, esp. with reference to craniometric classification.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > [noun] > form or peculiarity of
bottle-head1601
headmark1727
head form1858
1858 Rep. 27th Meeting Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1857 (Notices & Abstr.) 147 The author proved by a reference to numerous instances of an exactly similar head-form, that this elongation was a natural shape.
1885 J. Beddoe Races of Brit. xiii. 259 The principal ethnical elements in Britain are too much alike in headform to yield their differences to an average constructed on but a few living heads.
1927 H. Peake & H. J. Fleure Peasants & Potters 128 There can be little doubt that profile and head-form have subtle..interrelations.
1935 Mariner's Mirror 21 426 These people..belonged probably to the same stock as other nomads having the same head form.
2004 J. P. Jackson & N. M. Weidman Race, Racism & Sci. (2006) v. 155 Division of humankind by blood type bore no relation to racial classifications based on headform.
2. The form or spelling chosen for a headword in a dictionary or glossary.
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the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > lexicography > [noun] > dictionary > parts of a dictionary entry > headword
headword1727
entry form1856
main word1884
entry word1890
head form1894
1894 J. R. C. Hall Conc. Anglo-Saxon Dict. p. v As the word does not..occur in any Alfredian or Ælfrician text, I retained that spelling as my head-form.
1962 K. Malone in F. W. Householder & S. Saporta Probl. Lexicogr. 112 Here such verbs are listed in full, and the irregular forms of each verb are entered against the head-form.
2000 Year's Work in Mod. Lang. Stud. 62 589 Different dialect dictionaries are used to create non-standard head forms.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1858