head

== English == === Alternative forms === heed, hed (obsolete) 'ead (UK, eye dialect) heead (Yorkshire) === Pronunciation === enPR: hĕd, IPA(key): /ˈhɛd/ (Early Modern) IPA(key): /hɛd/, /hɛːd/ (Northumbrian) IPA(key): /hiːd/ Rhymes: -ɛd === Etymology 1 === From Middle English hed heed, from Old English hēafd-, hēafod (“head, top, chief”), 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 cape, capo, caput, chef, chief, and Howth. Cognate with Old English hafela (“head”), Scots heid, hede, hevid, heved (“head”), North Frisian hood (“head”), Dutch hoofd (“head”), German Haupt (“head”), Danish hoved (“head”), Faroese høvd, høvur (“head”), Icelandic höfuð (“head”), Norn heved (“head”), Norwegian hode (“head”), hoved- (“head, chief, main, principal”), Swedish huvud (“head”), Latin caput (“head”), Hindi कपाल (kapāl, “skull”), Sanskrit कपाल (kapāla, “skull”). ==== 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. Synonyms: caput, pate, (slang) noggin, loaf, nut, noodle, (UK slang) bonce; see also Thesaurus:head (people) To do with heads. Mental or emotional aptitude or skill. Synonym: mind (figurative, metonymic) Mind; one's own thoughts. A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication. A headdress; a covering for the head. (figurative, metonymic) An individual person. (animals) To do with heads. (plural head) A single animal; measure word for livestock and game. The population of game. The antlers of a deer. (countable) The topmost, foremost, or leading part. Antonyms: base, bottom, underside, foot, tail The end of a table. The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor. (billiards) The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked. (countable) The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. The end of a hammer, axe, golf club, or similar implement used for striking other objects. The end of a nail, screw, bolt, or similar fastener which is opposite the point; usually blunt and relatively wide. Antonyms: point, tip (countable, metalworking, construction, of a rivet): The larger-diameter end of an unused rivet, properly the factory head or ambiguously the shop head, as opposed to the bucktail which is passed through the items to be fastened and then upset into an appropriate shape, generally pancake-shaped for a solid rivet or doughnut-shaped for a blind rivet, called the field head or ambiguously the shop head. Either, or in plural both, ends of a used rivet, the factory head and the field head. The sharp end of an arrow, spear, or pointer. (lacrosse) The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball. (music) A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound. A machine element which reads or writes electromagnetic signals to or from a storage medium. (computing) The part of a disk drive responsible for reading and writing data. (automotive) The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs. (machining) A milling head, a part of a milling machine that houses the spindle. (uncountable, countable) The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages. (engineering) The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel. (coopering) The end cap of a cask or other barrel. Synonym: barrelhead (geology) The uppermost part of a valley. (British, geology) Deposits near the top of a geological succession. (journalism) Ellipsis of headline. (medicine) The end of an abscess where pus collects. (music) The headstock of a guitar. (nautical) A leading component. The top edge of a sail. The bow of a vessel. (British) A headland. A title or heading in a book or other document. (social, countable, metonymic) A leader or expert. Synonyms: boss, chief, leader Antonym: subordinate The place of honor or command; the most important or foremost position; the front. (UK, Ireland, metonymic) A headteacher. Synonyms: headmaster, headmistress, (US) principal (music, slang, figurative, metonymic) A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop. A significant or important part. A beginning or end, a protuberance. The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it. A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum. An ear of wheat, barley, or other small cereal. The leafy top part of a tree. (anatomy) The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint. (nautical) The toilet of a ship. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:toilet, Thesaurus:bathroom (in the plural) Tiles laid at the eaves of a house. 1875, Edward H. Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, vol. II, page 1086 Heads. (Roofing.) Tiles which are laid at the eaves of a house A component. (jazz) The principal melody or theme of a piece. (linguistics) A morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member. Holonym: phrase (chemistry) The first fraction of a distillation run, having a low boiling point. Synonym: foreshot Coordinate terms: heart, tail Headway; progress. Topic; subject. (only in the singular) Denouement; crisis. 1712 October 18, anonymous letter in The Spectator, edited by Joseph Addison, no. 513, collected in The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq, Birmingham: John Baskerville, published 1761, volume IV, page 10: 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. (fluid dynamics) Pressure and energy. (uncountable, countable) A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head. Hyponyms: head of steam, hydraulic head The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point. More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight. (slang, vulgar, uncountable) Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex. Synonyms: blowjob; see also Thesaurus:oral sex (slang) The glans penis. (slang, countable) A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs. (obsolete) Power; armed force. ===== Gallery ===== ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Descendants ===== → Japanese: ヘッド (heddo) Sranan Tongo: ede Aukan: ede Saramaccan: hédi ===== Translations ===== ==== Adjective ==== head (not comparable) Of, relating to, or intended for the head. Synonyms: cephalic, capital ===== Translations ===== ==== 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 (intransitive) To move in a specified direction. Synonyms: seek, bear (fishing, transitive) To remove the head from (a fish). Coordinate terms: bone, debone, gut, scale, descale Near-synonyms: behead, dehead (intransitive) To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river. (intransitive) To form a head. (transitive, of hardware) To form a head (on or to); to fit or furnish (something) 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. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== ahead knucklehead railhead smackhead ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === 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. Synonym: chief Placed at the top or the front. Synonyms: first, top Coming from in front. Synonyms: foot, tail ===== Translations ===== === References === === Anagrams === DHEA, ahed, hade == Estonian == === Adjective === head inflection of hea: partitive singular nominative plural