head
/hɛd
/noun
1The upper part of the human body, or the front or upper part of the body of an animal, typically separated from the rest of the body by a neck, and containing the brain, mouth, and sense organs.Trying to determine the reason for the human logjam, I craned my neck trying to see over the heads of the rest of the parishioners....
- Stretch your arms upwards and imagine you're trying to grasp something just above your head.
- Gods are all represented as having animal heads, and bodies of humans.
Synonyms
skull, cranium, crown
informal nut, noodle, noddle, nob, noggin, dome
British informal bonce, napper
Scottish & Northern English informal poll
informal, dated bean, conk
archaic pate, Costard, crumpet
1.1The head regarded as the location of intellect, imagination, and memory: whatever comes into my head...
- The drawing is from memory - from inside their heads - from their imaginations.
- The Archdeacon led a minute's silence as the congregation held a picture in their heads of their favourite memory of the twins.
- While I've a house full of things he gave me, and a head full of memories, this glorious sound is the best gift of them all.
Synonyms
brain, brains, brainpower, intellect, intelligence, intellectual capacity, mental capacity, powers of reasoning;
wit, wits, wisdom, mind, sense, reasoning, rationality, mentality, understanding, common sense
informal nous, grey matter, savvy, brainbox, brain cells, upper storey
British informal loaf
North American informal smarts
South African informal kop
1.2 (head for) An aptitude for or tolerance of: she had a good head for business a head for heights...
- I'm no good at IQ tests - I have no head for numbers and score lower than I should.
- She just doesn't have a head for figures.
- To walk to the top of these hills requires a strong heart and a head for heights.
Synonyms
aptitude, faculty, flair, talent, gift, capacity, ability, knack, bent;
mind, brain
1.3 informal A headache, especially one resulting from intoxication.I've got a splitting head....
- I told them they could keep the tablets in case they got a bad head on them some morning.
- What a night, and what a bad head the next morning.
1.4The height or length of a head as a measure: he was beaten by a head...
- In the Hong Kong Sprint Falvelon beat Morluc by a head and both horses were on hand to renew battle this year.
- I was astonished to see that I was a good head taller than him.
- His last victory came by a head in a six-furlong claiming race at Beulah Park.
1.5 (heads) The side of a coin bearing the image of a head (used when tossing a coin to determine a winner): heads or tails?...
- We decided to toss a coin: heads Rome, tails Paris.
- I assign a probability of 0.5 to the coin falling heads on a fair toss coming to rest on one side or the other.
- Some magicians can make a coin come up heads on every toss - even when they don't use a two-headed coin.
1.6The antlers of a deer: stags yearly cast their heads in March
2A thing resembling a head either in form or in relation to a whole, in particular:
2.1The cutting, striking, or operational end of a tool, weapon, or mechanism.He wired up players with heart rate monitors and breathing sensors, and lights were attached to the heads of the putting clubs to allow their movements to be studied....
- Pushing forth, he jabbed the head of the weapon into the greaves of the incoming phalanx.
- Adjustment of the cutting heads allows a great variety of moldings to be manufactured.
2.2The flattened or knobbed end of a nail, pin, screw, or match.Now officers at Belmarsh prison, London, have discovered him building a bomb inside prison using match heads and nails from prison furniture....
- Iron stains may be easy to diagnose because they are often near nail heads, screw heads or other hardware.
- Countersink nail and screw heads that are sticking up above the surface.
2.3The ornamented top of a pillar or column.Ducts in the precast double wall carry cooled air which flows into the prayer hall through grilles in the column heads....
- Interiors are relatively plain, with decoration confined to the square column heads.
2.4A compact mass of leaves or flowers at the top of a stem, especially a capitulum: huge heads of fluffy cream flowers...
- All have more or less narrow, mostly one-nerved leaves, and flowers in small compact heads.
- Plants with light to moderate crown rot generally survive but often tiller poorly and have small leaves and heads on the main stem.
- Euphorbia wulfenii is in full bloom with sprawling stems covered in furry grey-green leaves and topped with heavy heads of lime-green flowers.
2.5The edible leafy part at the top of the stem of such green vegetables as cabbage and lettuce.This is a traditional English variety, with tender stems and small leafy purple heads....
- What about a head of crisp, green lettuce for that fresh salad you were wanting to prepare?
- The Powley vegetable growers are running a competition for the biggest head of cabbage.
3The front, forward, or upper part or end of something, in particular:
Synonyms
front, beginning, start, fore, forefront, top, leading position, foremost position
3.1The upper end of a table or bed: he sat down at the head of the cot...
- They made their way to the grand room where the King sat at the head of the long table.
- Could you please position yourself at the bed's head?
- I was put at the head of the table in between Teodora, and Ivan, her Serbian uncle.
3.2The upper horizontal part of a window frame or door frame.The tower appears to be structurally sound but internally the condition of the wall tops, window heads and windowsills are greatly degraded....
- In The Music Lesson it is possible to see that the joists are supported at the left on a timber lintel or wall-plate, running across the heads of the windows.
- The tower is four-staged, the topmost with four double belfry windows with triangular heads and mid-wall shafts.
3.3The flat end of a cask or drum.The bass drum is the largest orchestral drum: normally it has two heads....
- He'll split the heads of his drums into different textures and has contact mics on them.
3.4The front of a queue or procession: at the head of the queue...
- Many pitched tents more than a fortnight ago to make sure they were at the head of the queue when the homes come on sale tomorrow morning.
- A picture shows the developers on horseback at the head of the parade.
- As Ella and George watch the rest of the march, the kids sneak down the alleyways and rejoin the head of the procession.
3.5The top of a page.For some time I tried to find an wise or witty one to insert at the head of my home page....
- He would start reading at the head of a page then his head would move downward in a straight line until he got to the foot of the page.
- At 115, at the head of the page, your Honours will see, at line 4, his Honour reads out the questions which had been written by the jury.
3.6 short for headline.The front section of each issue has brief pieces, about research and about the political and social setting of science, and these often have punchy heads.
3.7The top of a flight of stairs or steps.The best entrance to the hotel ballroom, a double door at the head of a short flight of steps, was strictly forbidden....
- He left me at the head of a flight of stairs leading to the basement.
- He quickly climbed up the steps and left it coiled in a heap at the head of the stairs.
3.8The foam on top of a glass of beer, or the cream on the top of milk.It's an almost black beer with a creamy head, giving a subtle roasted coffee aroma....
- We look at how we can extend the shelf life of beer and at improving foam - people equate freshness with a nice head of foam.
- The purpose of a proper glass is to concentrate the aroma and allow a full head of foam to develop.
Synonyms
froth, foam, bubbles, spume, mousse, fizz, effervescence, lather, suds
3.9The source of a river or stream.The river head is the source not only of the property's water, but also of its joie de vivre....
- With his wife and child, he had ridden seventy-five miles up the valley to meet the Mormon party near the head of Lemhi River.
- In 1754, Virginia dispatched an army under Lieutenant Colonel George Washington to construct a fort at the head of the Ohio River.
Synonyms
source, origin, well head, headspring, headwater, headwaters;
South African eye
literary wellspring, fount, fountain
3.10The end of a lake or inlet at which a river enters.Leaving the head of Lake Wanaka the road then runs through an open valley to Makarora....
- St Petersburg is located on the delta of the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland.
- Another age had passed when she saw a man sitting upon a rock at the head of the inlet.
3.11 [usually in place names] A promontory: Beachy Head...
- The print was Thea Schrack's ‘Yaquina Head Lighthouse.’
- Baynham has farmed for all of his 70 years at Penlen farm on St David's Head.
- The images include four lighthouses in Maine - Bass Harbor Head Light, Cape Neddick Light, Pemaquid Point Light, and Portland Head Light.
3.12The top of a ship’s mast.In an effort to overcome this a forward-looking wind transducer is mounted at the head of the mast.
3.13The bows of a ship.As the <i>Grosvenor</i> sliced towards the rocks at six knots, the officer of the watch dismissed reports of shore fires beyond the ship's head....
- There was no way the captain could keep the ship's head up into the seas.
3.14 short for cylinder head.The mammoth engine's double overhead camshaft heads and 64 valves are fed by a quartet of turbochargers....
- Fix Auto Body of Ontario did the bodywork and paint and Precision Cylinder Heads modified the heads.
- The remaining 40 percent of content, including cylinder blocks and heads, is made in-house.
4A person in charge of something; a director or leader: the head of the Dutch Catholic Church...
- Their findings are released today on the eve of the Thessaloniki summit of heads of EU political leaders that will decide the future framework of the community.
- The next highest paid director was the head of its US aggregates business Tom Hill.
- On the other hand, these same leaders are often the heads of militias and these militias are being used to assassinate political opponents.
Synonyms
leader, chief, boss, controller, master, supervisor, governor, superintendent, foreman, forewoman, headman;
commander, commanding officer, captain;
director, managing director, chief executive, manager;
principal, head teacher, headmaster, headmistress;
president, premier, prime minister, ruler;
chair, chairman, chairwoman, chairperson;
North American chief executive officer, CEO
informal boss man, kingpin, top dog, big cheese, bigwig, Mr Big, skipper
British informal gaffer, guv'nor
North American informal numero uno, head honcho, padrone, sachem, big white chief, big kahuna, big wheel, high muckamuck
4.1British short for headmaster, headmistress, or head teacher.The National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers say heads must find money to implement the accord....
- The second related to a new duty placed on all teachers to assist school heads in assessing whether their colleagues merited receiving the award.
- The numbers of teachers and heads choosing to retire early from primary schools has risen by 40 per cent since 2002.
5A person considered as a numerical unit: they paid fifty pounds a head...
- If the owner only gets a handful of visits a year it effectively costs the taxpayer thousands of pounds a head.
- For a pound a head and three cups of tea each what better value could we find?
- Typically a two-course meal complete with a couple of drinks will cost only about three pounds fifty per head!
5.1 [treated as plural] A number of cattle or game as specified: seventy head of dairy cattle...
- The farming family also have around 20 head of cattle and 400 sheep on their land.
- Thousands of lives and thousands of head of cattle are lost every year due to floods.
- Slosh Farm at Appleby is run by Robert Baxter and has 180 head of beef cattle and 150 head of sheep.
6A component in an audio, video, or information system by which information is transferred from an electrical signal to the recording medium, or vice versa.This thin data storage device has a flexible recordable disk and recording heads arranged on both sides of the disk....
- The main drive contains the drive electronics and heads.
- They are used for quality control in manufacturing digital recording heads as well as in the construction of compact audio disk stampers.
6.1The part of a record player that holds the playing cartridge and stylus.
6.2 short for printhead.
7A body of water kept at a particular height in order to provide a supply at sufficient pressure: an 8 m head of water in the shafts...
- The scheme will not require a dam but rather a wall that provides a constant head of water and which will be designed to utilise the flow of the river.
- The seawater stream into which the combustion gas is injected is under pressure via the head of water exerted by the seawater reservoir.
- The half weir was constructed to keep a good head of water in the river between Richmond and the end of the tidal flow at Teddington weir.
7.1The pressure exerted by a head of water or by a confined body of steam: a good head of steam on the gauge...
- The high pitched noise of the steam engines and their strong heads of steam are to dominate the afternoon.
- We made sure that there was plenty of coal out at the boiler fronts and a good head of steam to start them off.
8 Nautical A toilet on a ship or boat: they were cleaning out the heads...
- Although the sea washed the heads clean as the ship pitched, the heads still needed a regular scrub-down with a broom.
- It was posted in some of the heads on the ship the day before the plane went down.
- To the port side aft is the head and shower and a quarter berth cabin with large double berth.
9 Grammar The word that governs all the other words in a phrase in which it is used, having the same grammatical function as the whole phrase.In many grammatical theories, the head of a phrase is defined as that constituent which determines the syntactic category of the phrase....
- All of these examples involve head nouns with an indefinite article.
- Recall that a verb governs an object, and the head of a phrase governs the complement.
10 [mass noun] Geology A superficial deposit of rock fragments, formed at the edge of an ice sheet by repeated freezing and thawing and then moved downhill.Larger-scale climatic changes or tectonic changes in the hinterland produce relative changes in the main agents of deposition and entrenchment of the upper fan (the fan head)....
- The rock and soil debris may even move on very shallow slopes, resulting in a large accumulation of head at the valley bottom.
11 rare A group of pheasants: it is easy to get up a head of pheasants with the aid of good keepers...
- It is their business to provide a good head of pheasants.
- The keeper who has a good head of pheasants is constantly on the watch to keep them at home.
- The alternative manner of providing a head of pheasants for a preserve is by hatching their eggs under fowls and rearing the progeny by hand.
adjective [attributive]
Chief; principal: the head waiter...
- The head waiter gave parties every night in the kitchens, at which he and his local friends drank the cellars out.
- At dinner that night, I only had to reach for the wine bottle when the head waiter raced across to pour it for me.
- If you don't like the table you have been assigned in the restaurant, talk to the head waiter.
Synonyms
chief, principal, leading, main, first, front, prime, premier, foremost, top, topmost, highest, supreme, pre-eminent, high-ranking, top-ranking, most important;
North American ranking
informal top-notch
verb [with object]
1Be in the leading position on: the St George’s Day procession was headed by the mayor...
- With white and purple-robed priests heading the procession, the coffin was carried into the church.
- Five police cars headed the march.
- Sean Lamont heads a quintet of wing specialists who are vying for position in the Stade de France showdown.
Synonyms
be at the front of, lead, be the leader of, be at the head of;
be first, go first, lead the way
1.1Be in charge of: an organizational unit headed by a line manager she headed up the Jubilee Year programme...
- The man who heads the company charged with regenerating Swindon's town centre is leaving after only two years in the job.
- In the late 1990s he was, briefly, charged with heading a newly established repatriation service.
- A monitoring unit, headed by Martinez's son, Hugo, pinpointed the area where the call was coming from.
Synonyms
be in charge of, be at the head of, be in command of, command, be in control of, control, lead, be the leader of, run, manage, direct, administer, supervise, superintend, oversee, preside over, rule, govern, captain, be the boss of, be at the helm of
2Give a title or caption to: an article headed ‘The Protection of Human Life’...
- She has an obvious reverence for the music; most of the book's chapters are headed by famous song titles.
- He heads his article by saying that havens for wild life don't need buffer zones.
- His article is headed The BBC has done the country a favour.
3 [no object, with adverbial of direction] (also be headed) Move in a specified direction: he was heading for the exit we were headed in the wrong direction...
- She also waters each plant thoroughly every Sunday afternoon before she heads home.
- I yell goodbye to my dad as he heads out the door for work.
- He heads upstairs to the weight room for strength training.
Synonyms
move towards, go towards, make for, aim for, make one's way towards, go in the direction of, direct one's steps towards, be bound for, steer for, make a beeline for;
set out in the direction of, set out for, start out for
3.1 (head for) Appear to be moving inevitably towards (something, especially something undesirable): the economy is heading for recession...
- However, the British schemes for air marshals appear to be heading for difficulties.
- With 47 required off the last six overs, the match appeared to be heading for a draw.
- The game appeared to be heading for a goalless draw until Coniston struck twice within a minute.
3.2 [with object and adverbial of direction] Direct or steer in a specified direction: she headed the car towards them...
- The sheep halted, and at the whistle the dog proceeded with short flanking runs which headed them into the gap.
- Stallone heads his car towards him, so he jumps into the river.
- Head them towards the Washington area.
4 Soccer Shoot or pass (the ball) with the head: a corner kick that Moody headed into the net...
- The Czechs attack again, with Karel Poborsky heading a long ball back across the face of goal from the far post.
- Duff attacks down the left wing, but his ball is headed away by Sulimani.
- Finnan loops a cross into the box, and Keane heads the ball down into Duff's path.
5Lop off the upper part or branches of (a plant or tree): the willow is headed every three or four years...
- The trunks of some trees have been headed which causes several branches to grow from just below the cut.
6 [no object] (Of a lettuce or cabbage) form a head.Under very cool conditions, as in an unheated solar greenhouse or a polyethylene tunnel, any Asian heading cabbage will grow more loose and open....
- Of the handful of komatsunas available, some are crosses of komatsuna with heading brassicas, either napa types or bok choy.
Phrases
bang (or knock) people's heads together
be banging (or knocking) one's head against a brick wall
be hanging over someone's head
be heading for a fall
be in over one's head
be on someone's (own) head
bite (or snap) someone's head off
by the head
come to a head
do someone's head in
from head to toe (or foot)
get one's head down
get one's head round (or around)
get something into one's (or someone's) head
give someone their head
give someone head
go to someone's head
hang one's head (in shame)
have (got) a good head on one's shoulders
head of hair
head and shoulders above
—— one's head off
head over heels
a head start
heads I win, tails you lose
heads will roll
hold (or put) a gun to someone's head
hold up one's head (or hold one's head high)
in one's head
keep one's head
keep one's head above water
keep one's head down
lose one's head
make head or tail of
off (or out of) one's head
off the top of one's head
over someone's head
put their (or our or your) heads together
put something into someone's head
standing on one's head
stand (or turn) something on its head
take it into one's head to do something
turn someone's head
turn heads
Phrasal verbs
head someone/thing off
head up
Origin
Old English hēafod, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoofd and German Haupt.
English head—in Old English hēafod – has parallels in numerous related languages, including Dutch hoofd and German Haupt. The earlier, more logical, version of head over heels, ‘turning over completely in forward motion’, was heels over head. The modern form dates from the late 18th century. It often describes an extreme condition, as in head over heels in love or head over heels in debt. A variant is head over ears, which is an alteration of earlier, and much more logical, over head and ears. The expression to give someone their head comes from horse riding. Giving a horse its head meant allowing it to gallop freely rather than checking its pace by using the reins. The same image and meaning is to be found in the phrase to give someone free rein, which these days people sometimes write as free reign, as if the idea was allowing someone to rule freely.