head-and-shoulders
/ˌhɛd(ə)n(d)ˈʃəʊldəz/(also head-and-shoulder)
adjective
1Designating a portrait, likeness, photograph, etc., in which only the head and shoulders are shown.
2 Shooting. Designating a target resembling or representing a person's head and shoulders.
3 Finance (originally US ). Designating a graph of a financial market which plots price against time and resembles the shape of a person's head and shoulders (with the head as the summit and the shoulders the lower peaks on either side); designating a pattern or trend in a market which may be represented in this way.
- A head and shoulders pattern is often taken to indicate a future fall in prices or (if inverted) a rise in prices..
noun
1A head-and-shoulders portrait or likeness.
2 Finance (originally US ). A head-and-shoulders pattern, trend, or graph.
Origin
Early 19th century; earliest use found in Thomas F. Dibdin (1776–1847), bibliographer. In some forms from head + and + shoulder.