head
/hɛd/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun
Forms heads heading headed 'ead heead hed
- noun (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.”
- noun Mental or emotional aptitude or skill. “The company is looking for people with good heads for business.”
- noun (figurative, metonymic) Mind; one's own thoughts. “This song keeps going through my head.”
- noun A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication.
- noun A headdress; a covering for the head. “a laced head”
- noun (figurative, metonymic) An individual person. “Admission is three dollars a head.”
- noun (plural head) A single animal; measure word for livestock and game. “200 head of cattle and 50 head of horses”
- noun The population of game. “We have a heavy head of deer this year.”
- adjective Of, relating to, or intended for the head.
- verb (transitive) To be in command of. (See also head up.) “Who heads the board of trustees?”
- verb (transitive) To come at the beginning or front of; to commence. “A group of clowns headed the procession.”
- verb (transitive) To strike with the head “to head the ball”
- verb (intransitive) To move in a specified direction. “We are going to head up North for our holiday.”
- verb (fishing, transitive) To remove the head from (a fish). “The salmon are first headed and then scaled.”
- verb (intransitive) To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.
- verb (intransitive) To form a head. “This kind of cabbage heads early.”
- verb (transitive, of hardware, etc.) To form a head (on or to); to fit or furnish (something) with a head. “to head a nail”
- adjective Foremost in rank or importance. “the head cook”
- adjective Placed at the top or the front.
- adjective Coming from in front. “head sea”
Synonyms
caput pate noggin loaf nut noodle bonce mind barrelhead tidal bore boss chief leader headmaster headmistress principal big white telephone bog can commode brain psyche nous top dog fountainhead headspring head word capitulum school principal head teacher
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English efd, had, hafd, heafd, hed, heed, hefet, heid, het, hevd, heved, hevid, hiede, hæfd, hæfedd, from Old English hēafod (“head; top; leader; origin”), from Proto-West Germanic *haubud, from Proto-Germanic *haubudą (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *káput (“head”), from *kap- (“head; bowl, cup”).
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 Scots heid (“head”), Yola haade, hade, heade (“head”), North Frisian Haur, hood (“head”), Saterland Frisian Haud, Hööft (“head”), West Frisian haad (“head”), Alemannic German Haupt (“head”), Dutch hoofd (“head”), German Haupt, Häupt (“head”), Vilamovian hiöet, hiöt, huöt, huø̄t (“head”), Yiddish הויפּט (hoypt, “head”), Danish hode, hoved (“head”), Elfdalian ovuð (“head”), Faroese høvd, høvur (“head”), Icelandic höfuð (“head”), Jamtish huvu (“head”), Norwegian Bokmål hode, hue (“head”), Norwegian Nynorsk haud, hauv, hove, hovu, hovud, hue, huggu, hugu, hugud, huvu, huvud (“head”), Scanian huweð (“head”), Swedish hufvud, hufwud, huve, huvud, hövve (“head”), Crimean Gothic hoef (“head”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌳 (haubid), 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌸 (haubiþ, “head”); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic cuach (“bowl; dome (of head)”), Welsh cawg (“basin, bowl, vessel”), Latin capud, capus, caput (“head”), Greek κεφάλι (kefáli), κεφαλή (kefalí, “head”), Central Kurdish کاپۆڵ (kapoll, “skull”), Sanskrit कपाल (kapāla, “skull; bowl”).
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-.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun 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.
- adjective Principal; chief; leading; first; as, the head master of a school; the head man of a tribe; a head chorister; a head cook.
- verb 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. Dryden.
Etymology [OE. hed, heved, heaved, AS. heáfod; akin to D. hoofd, OHG. houbit, G. haupt, Icel. höfu, Sw. hufvud, Dan. hoved, Goth. haubip. The word does not corresponds regularly to L. caput head (cf. E. Chief, Cadet, Capital), and its origin is unknown.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “head”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details