headless
/ˈhɛdləs/ adjective
- adjective Synonym of decapitated. “How did the headless horseman see to chase Ichabod?”
- adjective Naturally having and needing no head. “headless invertebrates”
- adjective Without a head (hardware or device feature). “a headless nail; a headless set screw”
- adjective Without leadership. “The headless army blundered along after the death of their general, accomplishing nothing.”
- adjective (linguistics, of a phrase or compound) Not having a head morpheme or word.
- adjective (computing) Running without a graphical user interface; running without any attached output device (e.g., monitor) or input device (e.g., keyboard, mouse).
- adjective (of beer) Without a head of foam.
- adjective (obsolete) Heedless.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English heedles, hevedles, from Old English hēafodlēas (“headless”), equivalent to head + -less. Cognate with Dutch hoofdloos (“headless”), Danish hovedløs (“headless”), Swedish huvudlös (“headless”), Icelandic höfuðlaus (“headless”). Piecewise doublet of chefless and chiefless.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having no head; beheaded; as, a headless body, neck, or carcass.
- adjective Destitute of a chief or leader. Sir W. Raleigh.
Etymology [AS. heáfodleás.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “headless”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details