Pronunciations (5)
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/hɛd/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
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/hed/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
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/hiːd/
-
/hɛd/
Pronunciation notes
- Early
- Modern
-
/hɛːd/
Pronunciation notes
- Early
- Modern
Noun
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
-
I wear a hat on my head.
Be careful when you pet that dog on the head; it may bite.
More examples (1)
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.
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. To do with heads. Mental or emotional aptitude or skill.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
The company is looking for people with good heads for business.
He has no head for heights.
More examples (2)
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.
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. To do with heads. Mind; one's own thoughts.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
- metonymically
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
This song keeps going through my head.
More examples (1)
“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.”
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. To do with heads. A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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."
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. To do with heads. A headdress; a covering for the head.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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a laced head
a head of hair
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. To do with heads. An individual person.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
- metonymically
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
Admission is three dollars a head.
More examples (1)
[…] 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.
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. To do with heads. A single animal; measure word for livestock and game.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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200 head of cattle and 50 head of horses
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. To do with heads. The population of game.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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We have a heavy head of deer this year.
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. To do with heads. The antlers of a deer.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
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What does it say at the head of the page?
More examples (1)
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.
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The end of a table. The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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During meetings, the supervisor usually sits at the head of the table.
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The end of a table. The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. The end of a hammer, axe, golf club, or similar implement used for striking other objects.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. The end of a nail, screw, bolt, or similar fastener which is opposite the point; usually blunt and relatively wide.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Hit the nail on the head!
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. The larger-diameter end of an unused rivet, properly the factory head or ambiguously the shop head, as opposed to the bucktail which is passed through the items to be fastened and then upset into an appropriate shape, generally pancake-shaped for a solid rivet or doughnut-shaped for a blind rivet, called the field head or ambiguously the shop head.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- of a rivet
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. Either, or in plural both, ends of a used rivet, the factory head and the field head.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- of a rivet
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. The sharp end of an arrow, spear, or pointer.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The head of the compass needle is pointing due north.
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Tap the head of the drum for this roll.
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. A machine element which reads or writes electromagnetic signals to or from a storage medium.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The heads of your tape player need to be cleaned.
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. The part of a disk drive responsible for reading and writing data.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener. A milling head, a part of a milling machine that houses the spindle.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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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.
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The end cap of a cask or other barrel.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Synonyms
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The uppermost part of a valley.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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A deep bed of this red sandstone occurs at the head of the Yen Shui valley, a few miles south of Ching-pien [translating 靖邊 /靖边 (Jìngbiān)].
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. Deposits near the top of a geological succession.
Usage- UK usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. Synonym of tidal bore.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The end of an abscess where pus collects.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. The headstock of a guitar.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. A leading component. The top edge of a sail.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. A leading component. The bow of a vessel.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. A headland.
Usage- UK usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part. A title or heading in a book or other document.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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In this repositary, the phenomena of nature are ranged under three principal heads.
A leader or expert.
Usage- Countable
- metonymically
- Antonyms
- Examples
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She is the head of our team.
I'd like to speak to the head of the department.
Police arrested the head of the gang in a raid last night.
More examples (2)
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.[…]”
A leader or expert. The place of honor or command; the most important or foremost position; the front.
Usage- Countable
- metonymically
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
A leader or expert. A headteacher.
Usage- Ireland
- UK usage
- Countable
- metonymically
- Uncountable
- Synonyms
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
A leader or expert. A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
- metonymically
- Slang
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Only true heads know this.
A leader or expert. An old head.
Usage- Countable
- metonymically
- Slang
- Uncountable
A significant or important part. A beginning or end, a protuberance. The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The expedition followed the river all the way to the head.
A significant or important part. A beginning or end, a protuberance. A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Give me a head of lettuce.
More examples (1)
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.
A significant or important part. A beginning or end, a protuberance. A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum. An ear of wheat, barley, or other small cereal.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A significant or important part. A beginning or end, a protuberance. A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum. The leafy top part of a tree.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A significant or important part. A beginning or end, a protuberance. The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A significant or important part. A beginning or end, a protuberance. The toilet of a ship.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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I've got to go to the head.
A significant or important part. A beginning or end, a protuberance. Tiles laid at the eaves of a house.
Usage- Countable
- in-plural
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Heads. (Roofing.) Tiles which are laid at the eaves of a house
A significant or important part. A component. The principal melody or theme of a piece.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A significant or important part. A component. A morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Holonym: phrase
More examples (1)
Linguists will see that we reject some assumptions quite widely held in twentieth-century generative linguistics. The differences are sharp and explicit enough that they should provide grounds for discussion without causing confusion. For example, we do not believe subordinators (‘complementizers’) or coordinators (‘conjunctions’) are heads, and we treat every day as a noun phrase headed by day rather than a determinative phrase headed by every. […] That does not mean we are legislating a theoretical view: it is always possible to stop and ask whether certain facts about syntax are better explained under one theoretical conception rather than another.
A significant or important part. A component. The first fraction of a distillation run, having a low boiling point.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Synonyms
Headway; progress.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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We are having a difficult time making head against this wind.
Topic; subject.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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We will consider performance issues under the head of future improvements.
Denouement; crisis.
Usage- Countable
- singular
- Uncountable
- Examples
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These issues are going to come to a head today.
More examples (1)
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.
Pressure and energy. A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Let the engine build up a good head of steam.
How much head do you have at the Glens Falls feeder dam?
Pressure and energy. The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
Pressure and energy. More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.
Usage- Slang
- Uncountable
- Vulgar
- Synonyms
- Examples
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She gave great head.
Danny got head last night.
The glans penis.
Usage- Countable
- Slang
- Uncountable
A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs.
Usage- Countable
- Slang
- Examples
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More examples (3)
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.
Power; armed force.
Usage- Countable
- Obsolete
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head:
Adjective
Of, relating to, or intended for the head.
Usage- not-comparable
Verb
To be in command of. (See also head up.)
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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Who heads the board of trustees?
to head an army, an expedition, or a riot
To come at the beginning or front of; to commence.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
A group of clowns headed the procession.
The most important items headed the list.
More examples (2)
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.
To strike with the head
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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to head the ball
To move in a specified direction.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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We are going to head up North for our holiday.
We will head off tomorrow.
More examples (6)
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.
Where does the train head to?
To the left towers the Jungfrau, with the train heading directly towards it.
That afternoon, she checked in with her mother, Hope Sprenger, and explained she was with her best friend, Natasha and would be heading over to her father’s place later.
To remove the head from (a fish).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Near-synonyms: behead, dehead
The salmon are first headed and then scaled.
To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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a broad purling river, that heads in the great blue ridge of mountains,
The Templeton heads in the Cloncurry ranges[.]
To form a head.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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This kind of cabbage heads early.
More examples (1)
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.
To form a head (on or to); to fit or furnish (something) with a head.
Usage- Transitive
- usually
- of hardware
- Examples
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to head a nail
More examples (1)
“Well, you see, jist as Larry Toole was come down from headin’ the last rick, an’ we war takin’ away the laddher, out comes the misthress herself - long life to her - by the light o’ the moon; an’, ‘Boys,’ sez she, ‘yez hav’ finish‘d the harvist bravely, an’ I invite yez all to dinner here to-morrow; an’ if yez come airly, yez ’ill git mass in the big hall, widout the throuble o’ goin’ up all the ways to the chapel for it.’”
To cut off the top of; to lop off.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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to head trees
To behead; to decapitate.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
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
To go in front of.
- Examples
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to head a drove of cattle
to head a person
To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.
- Examples
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The wind headed the ship and made progress difficult.
To check or restrain.
Usage- broadly
To set on the head.
- Examples
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to head a cask
Adjective
Foremost in rank or importance.
Usage- not-comparable
- Synonyms
- Examples
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the head cook
More examples (1)
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.
Placed at the top or the front.
Usage- not-comparable
Coming from in front.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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head sea
head wind
Noun
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he stuck his head out the window
a single domestic animal
- Broader terms
- Examples
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200 head of cattle
that which is responsible for one's thoughts, feelings, and conscious brain functions; the seat of the faculty of reason
- Examples
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his mind wandered
I couldn't get his words out of my head
a person who is in charge
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the head of the whole operation
the front of a military formation or procession
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the head of the column advanced boldly
they were at the head of the attack
the pressure exerted by a fluid
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
a head of steam
the top of something
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the head of the stairs
the head of the page
More examples (1)
the head of the list
the source of water from which a stream arises
- Synonyms
- Examples
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they tracked him back toward the head of the stream
(grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
the tip of an abscess (where the pus accumulates)
the length or height based on the size of a human or animal head
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he is two heads taller than his little sister
his horse won by a head
a dense cluster of flowers or foliage
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
a head of cauliflower
a head of lettuce
the educator who has executive authority for a school
- Examples
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she sent unruly pupils to see the principal
an individual person
- Broader terms
- Examples
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tickets are $5 per head
a user of (usually soft) drugs
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the office was full of secret heads
a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a rounded compact mass
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the head of a comet
the foam or froth that accumulates at the top when you pour an effervescent liquid into a container
- Examples
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the beer had a large head of foam
the part in the front or nearest the viewer
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
he was in the forefront
he was at the head of the column
a difficult juncture
- Examples
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a pretty pass
matters came to a head yesterday
forward movement
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the ship made little headway against the gale
a V-shaped mark at one end of an arrow pointer
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the point of the arrow was due north
the subject matter at issue
- Synonyms
- Examples
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the question of disease merits serious discussion
under the head of minor Roman poets
a line of text serving to indicate what the passage below it is about
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the heading seemed to have little to do with the text
the rounded end of a bone that fits into a rounded cavity in another bone to form a joint
- Examples
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the head of the humerus
that part of a skeletal muscle that is away from the bone that it moves
(computer science) a tiny electromagnetic coil and metal pole used to write and read magnetic patterns on a disk
- Broader terms
(usually plural) the obverse side of a coin that usually bears the representation of a person's head
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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call heads or tails!
the striking part of a tool
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the head of the hammer
(nautical) a toilet on board a boat or ship
a projection out from one end
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the head of the nail
a pinhead is the head of a pin
a membrane that is stretched taut over a drum
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
oral stimulation of the genitals
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
they say he gives good head
Verb
to go or travel towards
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
where is she heading?
We were headed for the mountains
be in charge of
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
Who is heading this project?
travel in front of; go in advance of others
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
The procession was headed by John
be the first or leading member of (a group) and excel
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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This student heads the class
direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
take its rise
- Examples
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These rivers head from a mountain range in the Himalayas
be in the front of or on top of
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The list was headed by the name of the president
form a head or come or grow to a head
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The wheat headed early this year
remove the head of
- Examples
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head the fish