head

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  the Cucupha-headed Sceptre
• WordNet 3.6
  • v head remove the head of "head the fish"
  • v head direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
  • v head to go or travel towards "where is she heading","We were headed for the mountains"
  • v head travel in front of; go in advance of others "The procession was headed by John"
  • v head be in charge of "Who is heading this project?"
  • v head form a head or come or grow to a head "The wheat headed early this year"
  • v head be in the front of or on top of "The list was headed by the name of the president"
  • v head be the first or leading member of (a group) and excel "This student heads the class"
  • v head take its rise "These rivers head from a mountain range in the Himalayas"
  • n head oral stimulation of the genitals "they say he gives good head"
  • n head a single domestic animal "200 head of cattle"
  • n head a membrane that is stretched taut over a drum
  • n head a projection out from one end "the head of the nail", "a pinhead is the head of a pin"
  • n head (nautical) a toilet on board a boat or ship
  • n head the striking part of a tool "the head of the hammer"
  • n head (usually plural) the obverse side of a coin that usually bears the representation of a person's head "call heads or tails!"
  • n head (computer science) a tiny electromagnetic coil and metal pole used to write and read magnetic patterns on a disk
  • n head that part of a skeletal muscle that is away from the bone that it moves
  • n head the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains "he stuck his head out the window"
  • n head the rounded end of a bone that fits into a rounded cavity in another bone to form a joint "the head of the humerus"
  • n head that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings; the seat of the faculty of reason "his mind wandered","I couldn't get his words out of my head"
  • n head (grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent
  • n head a line of text serving to indicate what the passage below it is about "the heading seemed to have little to do with the text"
  • n head the subject matter at issue "the question of disease merits serious discussion","under the head of minor Roman poets"
  • n head a V-shaped mark at one end of an arrow pointer "the point of the arrow was due north"
  • n head forward movement "the ship made little headway against the gale"
  • n head a difficult juncture "a pretty pass","matters came to a head yesterday"
  • n head the front of a military formation or procession "the head of the column advanced boldly","they were at the head of the attack"
  • n head the source of water from which a stream arises "they tracked him back toward the head of the stream"
  • n head the part in the front or nearest the viewer "he was in the forefront","he was at the head of the column"
  • n head the top of something "the head of the stairs","the head of the page","the head of the list"
  • n head the foam or froth that accumulates at the top when you pour an effervescent liquid into a container "the beer had a large head of foam"
  • n head a rounded compact mass "the head of a comet"
  • n head a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea)
  • n head a user of (usually soft) drugs "the office was full of secret heads"
  • n head a person who is in charge "the head of the whole operation"
  • n head an individual person "tickets are $5 per head"
  • n head the educator who has executive authority for a school "she sent unruly pupils to see the principal"
  • n head the pressure exerted by a fluid "a head of steam"
  • n head a dense cluster of flowers or foliage "a head of cauliflower","a head of lettuce"
  • n head the length or height based on the size of a human or animal head "he is two heads taller than his little sister","his horse won by a head"
  • n head the tip of an abscess (where the pus accumulates)
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Additional illustrations & photos:

Profile of Head Of a Mummy, (a Man) Thebes

Head of an Inhabitant Of PÛanÎt

Head of the Mummy Of Metesouphis I

A BEAR WITH A SORE HEAD

Head of a Yound Girl

Study of a Head

THE WELL IN WHICH THE HEAD WAS WASHED

127. Under side of head of Diplax

• Interesting fact: Ostriches stick their heads in the sand to look for water.
• • Head (Bot) A dense cluster of flowers, as in clover, daisies, thistles; a capitulum.
  • Head (Bot) A dense, compact mass of leaves, as in a cabbage or a lettuce plant.
  • Head A headdress; a covering of the head; as, a laced head; a head of hair.
  • Head A headland; a promontory; as, Gay Head .
  • Head A rounded mass of foam which rises on a pot of beer or other effervescing liquor.
  • Head A separate part, or topic, of a discourse; a theme to be expanded; a subdivision; as, the heads of a sermon.
  • Head An ear of wheat, barley, or of one of the other small cereals.
  • Head Culminating point or crisis; hence, strength; force; height. "Ere foul sin, gathering head, shall break into corruption.""The indisposition which has long hung upon me, is at last grown to such a head, that it must quickly make an end of me or of itself."
  • Head Each one among many; an individual; -- often used in a plural sense; as, a thousand head of cattle. "It there be six millions of people, there are about four acres for every head ."
  • Head Power; armed force. "My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head ."
  • a Head hĕd Principal; chief; leading; first; as, the head master of a school; the head man of a tribe; a head chorister; a head cook.
  • Head The anterior or superior part of an animal, containing the brain, or chief ganglia of the nervous system, the mouth, and in the higher animals, the chief sensory organs; poll; cephalon.
  • Head The antlers of a deer.
  • Head The most prominent or important member of any organized body; the chief; the leader; as, the head of a college, a school, a church, a state, and the like. "Their princes and heads .""The heads of the chief sects of philosophy.""Your head I him appoint."
  • Head The place or honor, or of command; the most important or foremost position; the front; as, the head of the table; the head of a column of soldiers. "An army of fourscore thousand troops, with the duke of Marlborough at the head of them."
  • Head The place where the head should go; as, the head of a bed, of a grave, etc.; the head of a carriage, that is, the hood which covers the head.
  • Head The seat of the intellect; the brain; the understanding; the mental faculties; as, a good head, that is, a good mind; it never entered his head, it did not occur to him; of his own head, of his own thought or will. "Men who had lost both head and heart."
  • Head The source, fountain, spring, or beginning, as of a stream or river; as, the head of the Nile; hence, the altitude of the source, or the height of the surface, as of water, above a given place, as above an orifice at which it issues, and the pressure resulting from the height or from motion; sometimes also, the quantity in reserve; as, a mill or reservoir has a good head of water, or ten feet head ; also, that part of a gulf or bay most remote from the outlet or the sea.
  • Head The uppermost, foremost, or most important part of an inanimate object; such a part as may be considered to resemble the head of an animal; often, also, the larger, thicker, or heavier part or extremity, in distinction from the smaller or thinner part, or from the point or edge; as, the head of a cane, a nail, a spear, an ax, a mast, a sail, a ship; that which covers and closes the top or the end of a hollow vessel; as, the head of a cask or a steam boiler.
  • Head Tiles laid at the eaves of a house.
  • Head To be at the head of; to put one's self at the head of; to lead; to direct; to act as leader to; as, to head an army, an expedition, or a riot.
  • Head To behead; to decapitate.
  • Head To cut off the top of; to lop off; as, to head trees.
  • Head To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head; as, to head a nail.
  • Head To form a head; as, this kind of cabbage heads early.
  • Head To go in front of; to get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose; hence, to check or restrain; as, to head a drove of cattle; to head a person; the wind heads a ship.
  • Head To go or point in a certain direction; to tend; as, how does the ship head?
  • Head To originate; to spring; to have its source, as a river. "A broad river, that heads in the great Blue Ridge."
  • Head To set on the head; as, to head a cask.
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• Interesting fact: shrimp have their heart in their head
• • n head The upper part or division of the human body, consisting of the more or less rounded skull and its integuments and contents, the organs of sight, hearing, taste, etc., with the mouth and its parts, and joined to the trunk by the neck; in an extended sense, the corresponding part of any animal's body; the front, fore, or top part or oral end of an animal, in any way distinguished from the rest of the body, as by being borne upon a neck; the end opposite the tail. In all vertebrates except the lancelets, which have no skull or brain, the head is a prominent part. In arthropods, as insects and crustaceans, the head is an anterior part of the body in some way distinguished from the thorax, as by the coalescence of a number of the primitively distinct somites of the body into one segment, and the conversion of the appendages of these confluent somites into mouth-parts and organs of special sense; though the outward separation between head and thorax is often obscure or null. (See cephalothorax.) In the great group of worms, or anarthropodous anneloid animals, the head is simply the oral as opposed to the aboral end of the body. In molluscous animals a head is frequently recognizable by its mouth, tentacles, etc.; but in many there is no such distinction, these being called in consequence acephalous or headless. Still lower in the scale, the term head can be applied only, if at all, to the oral end of an animal. (See cranium and skull.) In certain Vermes the head is the whole mature individual excepting its generative buds, joints, or strobila: as, the head of a tapeworm.
  • n head Mental faculty regarded as seated in the head; intelligence; understanding; will or resolution; inclination; mind.
  • n head An individual animal or person; especially, an animal or a person considered as merely one of a number: as, to charge so much a head.
  • n head One who has the first rank or place, and to whom others are subordinate; a principal person; a leader; a chief: as, the head of an army; the head of a sect or party.
  • n head A conspicuous external covering or prominence on the head. The covering of hair: as, a beautiful head of hair.
  • n head The antlers of a deer.
  • n head A part of a thing regarded as in some degree resembling the human head in position, form, or importance. The top, especially when distinguished in some way from the rest of the thing: as, the head of a pin, of a spear, of a nail, of a mast.
  • n head The top or upper part of a plant the leaves of which form a single more or less compact mass: as, a head of grain or of lettuce.
  • n head In botany, a more or less globular cluster of sessile or nearly sessile flowers centripetal in development, as in the plane-tree, button-bush, clover, etc. By the shortening of the rays the umbel becomes a head, as in Eryngium, Sanicula, etc. In the Compositæ the flowers are always collected into a head, but they are then situated on a conical, flat, or even concave receptacle. Gray calls such a head the anthodium, from the resemblance of the whole head to a single flower. In the Characeæ Sachs applies the term head (köpfchen) to a peculiar hyaline cell situated at the central end of each of the eight manubria. See head-cell, and cut under anthoclinium.
  • n head The main point or part; that which constitutes the most conspicuous or most important feature.
  • n head The fore part; hence, the foremost place; the most prominent or honorable position: as, the head of a ship (which includes the bows on both sides); the head of a procession, of a column of troops, or of a class; the head of the table; the head of a profession.
  • n head That end of a thing which is regarded as the upper end: as, the head of a bed; the head of a street.
  • n head Of a barrel or the like, either end when closed; hence, the material with which either end is closed: as, to knock out both heads of a cask.
  • n head That which rises to the top, as the froth on a pot of beer.
  • n head That part of an abscess or a boil where it breaks or seems likely to break: often used figuratively.
  • n head The principal source, or one of the sources, as of a stream; the remotest point from the mouth or opening into a sea or lake, as of a creek, bay, or gulf; a source or spring in general.
  • n head The accumulation of oil in oil-tubes when the pumps are idle.
  • n head A reliquary in the shape of a human head. See chef, 3.
  • n head A headland or promontory, as in the names Gay Head, Flamborough Head.
  • n head A special part of a tool, instrument, etc., having some analogy with the human head, as the upper or steel part of an anvil; the riser, sprue, or sullage-piece of a casting; the obverse of a coin; the capital of a column; the striking part of a hammer, in contradistinction to the helve, and the pole as distinguished from the claw or peen; the poppet of a lathe; the lathe-stock in which is the live spindle, as distinguished from the tail-stock, which contains the dead spindle; the top edge of a book; the top of a door, etc.
  • n head A bundle of flax measuring probably 2 feet in length, and weighing a few pounds. In Dorsetshire a head of hemp weighs 4 pounds. According to the statute of Edward I. called Tractatus de ponderibus et mensuris, a head of linen is 10 yards: “Cheef de fustiano constat ex tredecim ulnis: caput findonis ex decem ulnis.” In whaling: The upper end of a piece of blubber in boarding; the square end cut off from the main piece, and separately hauled in. That part of a whale which includes the white-horse, junk, and case, as of a sperm-whale, or the whalebone and some blubber of a baleen-whale.
  • n head In tortoise-shell manuf., the larger plates, taken collectively, of the upper shell of the caret or hawk's-bill turtle, usually thirteen in number.
  • n head In musical notation, the principal part of a note — that is, that part which indicates by its position on the staff the pitch of the tone: as, distinguished from the stem or tail. (See note.) Heads are either open, as in semibreves and minims, or solid, as in crotchets, quavers, etc.
  • n head In various stringed musical instruments of the lute and viol families, that part of the instrument above the neck where the tuning-pegs are inserted. It is usually carved ornamentally, especially in the older instruments. See lute, viol, guitar, etc.
  • n head In musical instruments of the drum family, the stretched membrane covering one or both of the ends, by striking which the tone is produced. The tension of the head and thus the pitch of the tone are governed by a ring around the edge, which may be raised or lowered, relaxing or tightening the membrane. See drum, tambourine.
  • n head In hydrostatics, the height of water above a given level, as in a pond or reservoir, considered as a measure of its quantity or force of fall: also reckoned in terms of the pressure of the water per square inch at the given level: as, a reservoir with forty feet head of water. See fall.
  • n head In pneumatics, the difference of pressure on a unit of base existing between two fluid columns of different densities communicating at their bases: estimated as the height of a column of the denser fluid whose pressure on a unit of its base is equal to the difference: as, the head which determines the velocity of flow in a chimney.
  • n head In steam- and gas-engin., the pressure of a confined volume of steam or gas upon a unit of the interior surface of a confining vessel, estimated in terms either of weight or of the height of a column of water or mercury which would exert the same pressure upon a unit of area of its base: as, a full head of steam.
  • n head A culmination or crisis; height; force; strength; pitch. Compare def. 6 .
  • n head Power; armed force.
  • n head A chief point or subject; one of a number of successive topics of discourse, or a summary thereof: as, the heads of a discourse or treatise.
  • n head A printed or written title; a heading. In printing a chapter-head is the word chapter with its number in large type; a running head, the title of a book or a chapter continuously repeated at the top of the pages; a side-head, a title inserted in the first line of a paragraph (as, for example, the title-words in this dictionary); a subhead, a second title following the main one, or the title of a minor division of a chapter or other general division.
  • n head In coal-mining: A level or road driven into the solid coal for proving or working a mine. The part of a face or breast nearest the roof. See heading, 10.
  • n head In angling, a feather or herl wound closely on the body of an artificial fly, both for ornament and to hide the butt-end of the wing where it is clipped off.
  • n head By the height of the head and shoulders; hence, by a great deal; by much; by far; greatly: as, he is head and shoulders above his fellows.
  • n head To come to a crisis or consummation. Also to draw to a head.
  • n head To resist with an opposing force; combine against.
  • n head Synonyms Commander, Leader, etc. See chief.
  • head Being at the head; first or foremost; chief; principal: as, the head waters of a river; the head man of a village; a head workman.
  • head Coming from in front; bearing toward the head, as of a ship: as, a head wind; a head sea.
  • head [In many instances usage varies between writing head separately as an adjective and joining it by a hyphen with a noun to make a compound.]
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• Interesting fact: The human head weighs 7 pounds.
• • n Head hed the uppermost or foremost part of an animal's body: the brain: the understanding: a chief or leader: the place of honour or command: the front or top of anything: an individual animal or person: a topic or chief point of a discourse: a title, heading: the source or spring: height of the source of water: highest point of anything: culmination: a cape: strength: a froth on beer, porter, &c., when poured into a glass
  • v.t Head to act as a head to, to lead or govern: to go in front of: to commence: to check: :
  • v.i Head to grow to a head: to originate: to go head foremost
  • adj Head rash: precipitous, steep
  • v.i Head to shoot ahead, in tacking
  • v.t Head (naut.) to be contrary
  • v.t Head (obs.) to behead
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• Horace

  

  “I shall strike the stars with my unlifted head.”
• Horace

  

  “When things are steep, remember to stay level-headed.”
• Thomas Carlyle

  

  “The heart always sees before than the head can see.”
• Princess of Wales Diana

  

  “It is a weakness that I lead from my heart, and not my head?”
• Source Unknown

  

  “Use your head and your heart, its not everything but its a start.”
• Samuel Butler

  

  “Such as take lodgings in a head that's to be let unfurnished.”

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