headsman
noun
Forms headsmen
- noun (obsolete or Scotland) A chief person; a head man
- noun An executioner whose method of dispatching the condemned is decapitation.
- noun (mining, historical) A labourer in a colliery who transports the coal from the workings to the horseway, and who is oftentimes assisted by a younger worker called a foal.
- noun (nautical) One in command of a whaling vessel.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English heddysman, equivalent to head + -s- + -man. Cognate with Scots hedisman, heidisman (“head man; chief; commander”). Compare also Danish høvedsmand (“captain”), Swedish hövitsman (“captain”), Icelandic höfuðsmaður (“captain”), German Hauptmann (“captain”).
Webster’s 1913
- An executioner who cuts off heads. Dryden.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “headsman”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details