head

noun

1. (countable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

   “Be careful when you pet that dog on the head; it may bite.”

   “Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

   “The company is looking for people with good heads for business.”

   “He has no head for heights.”

   “It's all about having a good head on your shoulders.”

   “And each of a succession of teachers who tried to show me that mathematical answers were derived logically and not through some form of esoteric inspiration was forced to give up with the assurance that I had no head for figures. My father 'would read my school reports with a gloom which in other respects they scarcely warranted. His mind worked, I think, this way: no head for figures = no idea of finance = no money.”

3. (countable, figuratively, metonymically, uncountable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

   “This song keeps going through my head.”

   ““Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke[…]whom the papers are making such a fuss about.””

4. (countable, uncountable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

   “He found whist, and gymkhanas, and things of that kind (meant to amuse one after office) good; but he took them seriously, too, just as seriously as he took the “head” that followed after drink.”

   “"Now you have done it, Spuds," said Cripps. "You'll have an awful head on you tomorrow."”

   “"Mornin', Tom," he said in a husky voice. Then as the wife left the room: "Got a drop of Scotch about? I've a head on me this morning."”

5. (countable, uncountable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

   “a laced head”

   “a head of hair”

6. (countable, figuratively, metonymically, uncountable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

   “Admission is three dollars a head.”

   “[…] but here we are obliged to diſcloſe ſome Maxims, which Publicans hold to be the grand Myſteries of their Trade. […] And, laſtly, if any of their Gueſts call but for little, to make them pay a double Price for every Thing they have ; ſo that the Amount by the Head may be much the ſame.”

7. (countable, uncountable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

   “200 head of cattle and 50 head of horses”

8. (countable, uncountable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

   “We have a heavy head of deer this year.”

9. (countable, uncountable)The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
10. (countable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “What does it say at the head of the page?”

    “Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.”

11. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “During meetings, the supervisor usually sits at the head of the table.”

12. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
13. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
14. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “Hit the nail on the head!”

15. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
16. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
17. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “The head of the compass needle is pointing due north.”

18. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
19. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “Tap the head of the drum for this roll.”

20. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “The heads of your tape player need to be cleaned.”

21. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
22. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
23. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
24. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “Pour me a fresh beer; this one has no head.”

    “He never learned how to pour a glass of beer so it didn't have too much head.”

25. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
26. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
27. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
28. (British, countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
29. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “The content of a headline over a news story should be taken from the lead of the story. […] The head should give the same impression as the body of the story.”

30. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
31. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
32. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
33. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
34. (British, countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
35. (countable, uncountable)The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

    “In this repositary, the phenomena of nature are ranged under three principal heads.”

36. (countable, metonymically)A leader or expert.

    “I'd like to speak to the head of the department.”

    “Police arrested the head of the gang in a raid last night.”

    “He's (the) head of a project here.”

    ““I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery.[…]””

37. (countable, metonymically, uncountable)A leader or expert.

    “We saw the last Campaign that an Army of Fourscore Thousand of the best Troops in Europe, with the Duke of Marlborough at the Head of them, cou'd do nothing against an Enemy that were too numerous to be assaulted in their Camps, or attack'd in their Strong Holds.”

38. (Ireland, UK, countable, metonymically, uncountable)A leader or expert.

    “At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...' / She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking. / As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted.”

    “I was called into the head's office to discuss my behaviour.”

39. (countable, figuratively, metonymically, slang, uncountable)A leader or expert.

    “Only true heads know this.”

40. (countable, metonymically, slang, uncountable)A leader or expert.
41. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.

    “The expedition followed the river all the way to the head.”

42. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.

    “Give me a head of lettuce.”

    “Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.”

43. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.
44. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.
45. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.
46. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.

    “I've got to go to the head.”

47. (countable, in-plural, uncountable)A significant or important part.

    “Heads. (Roofing.) Tiles which are laid at the eaves of a house”

48. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.
49. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.

    “Holonym: phrase”

50. (countable, uncountable)A significant or important part.
51. (countable, uncountable)Headway; progress.

    “We are having a difficult time making head against this wind.”

52. (countable, uncountable)Topic; subject.

    “We will consider performance issues under the head of future improvements.”

53. (countable, singular, uncountable)Denouement; crisis.

    “These issues are going to come to a head today.”

    “Northumberland, thou Ladder wherewithall / The mounting Bullingbrooke aſcends my Throne, / The time ſhall not be many houres of age, / More then it is, ere foule ſinne, gathering head, / Shall breake into corruption […]”

    “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.”

54. (countable, uncountable)Pressure and energy.

    “Let the engine build up a good head of steam.”

    “How much head do you have at the Glens Falls feeder dam?”

55. (countable, uncountable)Pressure and energy.
56. (countable, uncountable)Pressure and energy.
57. (slang, uncountable, vulgar)Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.

    “She gave great head.”

    “Danny got head last night.”

58. (countable, slang, uncountable)The glans penis.
59. (countable, slang)A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs.

    “Then I saw the more advanced narcotic addicts, who shot unbelievable doses of powerful heroin in the main line – the vein of their arms; the hysien users; chloroform sniffers, who belonged to the riff-raff element of the dope chippeys, who mingled freely with others of their kind; canned heat stiffs, paragoric hounds, laudanum fiends, and last but not least, the veronal heads.”

    “The term, "head," is, of course, not new with hippies. It has a long history among drug users generally, for whom it signified a regular, experienced user of any illegal drug—e.g., pot "head," meth "head," smack (heroin) "head."”

    “The hutch now looks like a “Turkish bath,” and the heads have their arms around one another, passing the pipe and snapping their fingers as they sing Smokey Robinson's “Tracks of My Tears” into the night.”

60. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Power; armed force.

    “My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head:”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of, relating to, or intended for the head.
2. (not-comparable)Foremost in rank or importance.

   “the head cook”

   “At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.”

3. (not-comparable)Placed at the top or the front.
4. (not-comparable)Coming from in front.

   “head sea”

   “head wind”

verb

1. (transitive)To be in command of. (See also head up.)

   “Who heads the board of trustees?”

   “to head an army, an expedition, or a riot”

2. (transitive)To come at the beginning or front of; to commence.

   “A group of clowns headed the procession.”

   “The most important items headed the list.”

   “When it arrived, the train was headed by a "K" class 4-6-0 wood-burning locomotive, and a water-tank wagon next to the tender was immediately besieged by women and girls, clad in their picturesque national costume, all with empty kerosene tins for water, a scene which was re-enacted at each stop down the line.”

   “The citations are set in smaller font, start on a new indented line and are headed with a date.”

3. (transitive)To strike with the head

   “to head the ball”

4. (intransitive)To move in a specified direction.

   “We are going to head up North for our holiday.”

   “We will head off tomorrow.”

   “Next holiday we will head out West, or head to Chicago.”

   “Right now I need to head into town to do some shopping.”

   “I'm fed up working for a boss. I'm going to head out on my own, set up my own business.”

5. (transitive)To remove the head from (a fish).

   “Near-synonyms: behead, dehead”

   “The salmon are first headed and then scaled.”

6. (intransitive)To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.

   “a broad purling river, that heads in the great blue ridge of mountains,”

   “The Templeton heads in the Cloncurry ranges[.]”

7. (intransitive)To form a head.

   “This kind of cabbage heads early.”

   “To be honest, this hasn't been my Garden of Eden year. […] The lettuce turned bitter and bolted. The Green Comet broccoli was good, but my coveted Romanescos never headed up.”

8. (transitive)To form a head (on or to); to fit or furnish (something) with a head.

   “to head a nail”

9. (transitive)To cut off the top of; to lop off.

   “to head trees”

10. (obsolete, transitive)To behead; to decapitate.

    “I tell thee, man of God, the uncharitableness of the sect to which thou pertainest has thronged the land of punishment as much as those who headed, and hanged, and stabbed, and shot, and tortured.”

    “If you head, and hang all that offend that way but for ten yeare together; you'll be glad to giue out a Commission for more heads”

11. To go in front of.

    “to head a drove of cattle”

    “to head a person”

12. To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.

    “The wind headed the ship and made progress difficult.”

13. (broadly)To check or restrain.
14. To set on the head.

    “to head a cask”

name

1. A surname from Middle English, from residence near a hilltop or the head of a river, or a byname for someone with an odd-looking head.