house headn.1
/ˈhaʊs hɛd/, U.S. /ˈhaʊs ˌhɛd/ 1. Scottish. = housetop n. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [noun]
roofOE
thackOE
heelinga1325
coverture1382
house-copa1425
covering1459
housetop1526
rooftop1564
house heada1600
tecture1624
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) ii. vi. l. 9 Syne to the howssis hed ascendis onone.]
a1600 in W. Nicolson Leges Marchiarum (1705) App. II. 198 The Watch to be keeped on the House-head.
1794 W. Anderson Piper of Peebles 13 The Devil made himself a door—thro' the house head a flame he flew, Of stinking brimstane.
1864 W. D. Latto Tammas Bodkin iv. 30 The puir wean will dwine awa to nae-thing,..like snaw aff the hoose-head.
1906 C. M. Doughty Dawn in Brit. I. iii. 127 Tilestones hurled down on him, from house heads.
2. = head of house n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > teacher > schoolteacher or schoolmaster > [noun] > housemaster or housemistress
housefather1777
housemaster1839
housemother1844
house head1862
housemistress1884
house dad1919
house mum1961
1862 E. H. B. Mason Civilizing Mountain Men ii. xiv. 273 In the Young Men's School I have the superintendence of two general teachers, one cook, two hospital-heads, two house-heads, and two heads for the grounds.
1933 Observer 14 May 20/3 (heading) House heads at Harrow. The heads of school houses at Harrow this term are [etc.].
1972 Brit. Jrnl. Educ. Stud. 20 152 It is relatively common to find heads of department who are also house heads, heads of year, even heads of a whole section of the school.
1999 A. Thomson & S. Lafortune Handbk. Canad. Boarding Schools (ed. 2) 228 The Head Girl, School Captain, Sports Captain and House Heads are individually elected and form the student executive.
2004 M. Marland & R. Rogers How to be Successful Form Tutor vii. 111 Good provision for mid-course entrants requires..care from..all the subject teachers, and of course especially the year head or house head.
3. The principal member of a family or household.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > rule or government of family or tribe > head of family, tribe, or clan > [noun] > head of family
tuft1631
oubaas1824
paterfamilias1850
house head1864
society > authority > rule or government > rule or government of family or tribe > head of family, tribe, or clan > [noun] > head of household
houselordOE
husbandOE
lordOE
goodmanc1275
husbandmanc1330
master1536
man of the house1539
housemaster1593
major-domo1649
house head1864
old baas1882
1864 Reader 23 July 98/3 Municipium is most likely the same as the mund, or protection of the Saxon-English, with whose burhscipe, or pledgeship, women, children, and slaves were in the mund of the husband or house-head.
1904 Michigan Law Rev. 3 67 The ‘House’ is not a household, nor a dwelling place, but a group of persons bearing the same surname and subject to the authority of the ‘House-head’.
1988 M. Alamgir in J. P. Lewis Strengthening Poor iv. 108 The overall food security of the household—traditionally under the authority of the male house head in The Gambia—became paramount.
2006 Afr. Today 53 15 Its counterpart is the aide-mémoire pages on family traditions..that many house heads jealously preserve.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1a1600