he 
D. Mate., fern,, and nent. pi. (Obsolete or colloquial (see 
(c), (d) below), the form they, of different origin, being used 
in literary English.] (a) Nom. het, Ait. (ME. he, heo, hlo, 
M, hie, ha, hue, etc., < AS. hi, hie, hiy, heu, hio = OFries. 
hia (in other Teut. forms from a different root, repre- 
sented by she). ] They : displaced in modern English by 
they (which see). 
Alle beon fie blithe 
That to my song lythe. 
King Horn (E. E. T. S.X 1. 1. 
And nuste wat folk it was, to hem he sende hys sonde, 
To wyte, wether he [they] wolde pes, other heo nolde lion. 
Rob. of Gloucester, p. 16. 
Toward Mantrible ridden At. 
Sir Ferumbras (ed. Ellis), ii. 394. 
(Ii) Poss. (gen.) her, herel. [Now only dial. ; < ME. here, 
hire, hure, huere, hare, hare, heore, < AS. hira, hyra, heora 
= OFries. hiara.] Their: displaced in modern English by 
their (which see, under they). 
Thenne cam Pilatus with muche peuple . . . 
To seo hou douhtiliche Deth sholde do and deme here 
beyer [of both of them] ryght. 
Piers Plowman (CX xxi. 36. 
(c) Obj. (d:it. ) hemi, em\, 'em. [Common in early mod. E., 
in which it came to be regarded as a contr. of the equiv. 
them, and was therefore in the 17th century often printed 
'hem, 'em ; in present use only colloq., written 'em (see 
'em) ; < ME. hem, ham, horn, heom, tie men, < AS. Aim, heom 
-- OFries. hiam, him, himmen, etc. (cf. Goth, im, from an- 
other root: see etym. above).] Them. See they. 
And [he] precheth to the poeple seynt Poules wordes, . . . 
And with gladde wille doth hem gode. 
Piers Plowman (B), viii. 93. 
That ys to say, alle thynges that ye wylle that men do 
to gow, do ge the same to he men. 
MS. Rawl. Poet. 145. (Hallimll.) 
(d) Obj. (ace.) Aemt, em], 'em. [< ME. hem, horn, etc.; 
a substitution for the orig. he, hi, etc. (same form as the 
nom.), the dative having displaced the accusative here as 
In the singular (see A (d)). See (c) above.] Them. See 
they. 
He could coin or counterfeit 
New words, with little or no wit ; . . . 
And when with hasty noise he spoke 'em, 
The ignorant for current took 'em. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. i. 118. 
His friends as Angels I received 'em, 
His foes the Devil had suborn'd 'em. 
Tennyson, Queen Mary, i. 5. 
In early use and in modern dialectal speech he is often 
found with reference to inanimate objects where present 
regular usage requires it. In early use this is generally 
due to the agreement required by the grammatical gen- 
der ; in modern use it is due rather to personification or 
to mere mixture. An actual change of hit or it to he is 
not to be supposed. 
From South to North he [England] ys long eigte hondred 
myle. Rob. of Gloucester, p. 2. 
A staffe of sixe verses is very pleasant to the eare, and 
also serveth for a greater complement then the inferiour 
staves, which maketh him more commonly to be used. 
Pttttenliam, Arte of Bug. Poesie, p. 55. 
The possessive may be used without a noun following, 
the feminine her, like our and your, then taking, in mod- 
em use, an additional genitive suttix -, as in ftig, namely, 
hers. 
This was his desir and hire also. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 221. 
And what his fortune wanted, hen could mend. 
Drydcn. 
A thing always becomes his at last who says it best, and 
thus makes it his own. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 41. 
For the reflexive and emphatic form of he, see himself. 
II. demonstr, pron. This one ; that one. 
Manye a man that may nat stonde a pul, 
It likyth him at wrastelyng for to be, 
And demen yit, wher [whether] he do bet or he. 
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 166. 
III. n. 1. A male person; a man: correla- 
tive to she, a woman. [Now only humorous.] 
Here I stand to answer thee, 
Or any he the proudest of thy sort. 
SAo*., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 2. 
One that dares step as far to gain my freedom 
As any he that breathes. 
Fletcher, Double Marriage, i. 1. 
2. A male animal; a beast, bird, or fish of the 
male sex : correlative to she, a female animal. 
Hence much used attributively or as an adjective prefix, 
signifying 'male,' with names of animals, he and she thus 
prefixed supplying the place in English of the distinctive 
suffixes common ill other tongues and used to some extent 
in Anglo-Saxon (compare fox, fixen, vixen) : as, a Ae-bear, 
he-cat, he -goat, correlative to sAe-bear, etc. The use occurs 
first in Middle English, when the regular suffixes of gender, 
distinct in Anglo-Saxon, fell away or became confused. 
These prefixes are sometimes also used contemptuously 
with reference to persons. 
They haue many hee and sAee-Saints, in great venera- 
tion, with long legends of their liues. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 444. 
All the he and she scoundrels of the capital, writhed 
and twisted together, rush by you. 
Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, On Some Fashionable 
[French Novels. 
he 2 (he), inter j. A sound made in calling, 
laughing, etc.: as, He! he! an archers' word 
of call. 
2748 
head (hed), . and o. [The spelling ea indicates 
the orig. long vowel ; early mod. E. also heed, 
hed; < ME. hed (i. e., hed), hede, heed, contr. of 
earlier hered, heuid, heaved, havcd, < AS. hedfod 
(gen. heafdes), the head (lit. and fig.), = OS. 
hobliid = OFries. /tared, hdfd, had = D. hoofd 
= MLG. hocet, LG. hoi-et, hoofd = OHG. liouUt, 
MHG. houbet, houpt, also houbet, G. haupt (dial. 
haid, had, heed, after LG.) = Icel. hofudh = 
Sw. hufvud = Ban. hoved = Goth, haubith, the 
head (prob. connected with AS. hufe, ME. 
houve, howe, Sc. how, a hood, = MLG. LG. 
huve = OHG. huba, MHG. hube, G. haube, a 
cap, coif, hood, = Icel. hufa = Dan. A&e = Sw. 
hufva, a cap, hood, bonnet) ; prob. = L. caput, 
head (> ult. E. chief, capital 1 , cape 2 , etc.). The 
Gr. Kc<j>a^, the head, agrees with the rare and 
poet. AS. hafala, hafela, also written heafela, 
heafola, the head; but this is appar. not con- 
nected with hedfod, head: cf. Skt. kapala, a 
cup, the skull.] I. n. 1. 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 verte- 
brates 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 auneloid 
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 ail, 
to the oral end of an animal. (See cranium and skull.) 
In certain Venues the head is the whole mature indi- 
vidual excepting its generative buds, joints, or strobila : 
as, the headot a tapeworm. 
Hou longe ssolle hor luther [lither] heued above hor 
ssoldren be? Hob. of Gloucester, 1. 126. 
Both wife and barnes opon him fell 
And lay opon the cors criand, 
Heuid to heuid and hand to hand. 
Holy Kood (E. E. T. S.), p. 71. 
There was wont to ben the heed of seynt John Bap- 
tist, enclosed in the Walle. 
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 107. 
It was one of those heads which Guido has often painted 
mild, pale, penetrating. 
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 8. 
2. Mental faculty regarded as seated in the 
head; intelligence; understanding; will or res- 
olution; inclination; mind. 
For what thorw werre and wrake and wycked hyfdes, 
May no preiour pees make in no place, hit semeth. 
Piers Plowman (CX xviii. 85. 
Would Chloe know if you're alive or dead ? 
She bids her footman put it in her head. 
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 178. 
When in ordinary discourse we say a man has a fine 
head, a long head, or a good head, we express ourselves 
metaphorically, and speak in relation to his understand- 
ing. AMixun, The Hood. 
Of this siege M. Viollet-le-Duc gives a long and minute 
account, which the visitor who has a head for such things 
may follow, with the brochure in hand, on the fortifica- 
tions themselves. II. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 149. 
3. An individual animal or person ; especial- 
ly, an animal or a person considered as merely 
one of a number : as, to charge so much a head. 
[In this use after a number the plural is head.] 
A company of giddy heads will take upon them to define 
how many shall be saved. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 626. 
Thirty thousand head of swine. Addison. 
The red deer, which toward the beginning of this cen- 
tury amounted to about five hundred head. 
Gilbert White, Nat. Hist, of Selborne, vL 
4. One who has the first rank or place, and to 
whom others are subordinate ; a principal per- 
son; a leader; a chief: as, the head of an army : 
the head of a sect or party. 
Sitthen ich am goure alre hefd [the head of you all] ich 
am goure alre hele. Piers Plowman (C), xxii. 473. 
The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is 
the head of the church. Eph. v. 23. 
The Master of the College, or "Head of the House," is 
a D. D., who has been a Fellow. He is the supreme ruler 
within the college walls. 
C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 31. 
5. A conspicuous external covering or prom- 
inence on the head, (a) The covering of hair : as, a 
beautiful head of hair, (b) A head-dress. 
head 
I will bring down new heads for my sisters. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 263. 
Sails with In |i]i,'i A. in/ and mincing airs 
Duly at chink of bell to morning pray'rs. 
Coii'per, Truth, 1. 139. 
(c) The antlers of a deer. 
But, sir, I assure ye, it was a buck of the first head [that 
is, of the fifth year). Shak., L. L. L., iv. 2. 
0. A part of a thing regarded as in some de- 
gree resembling the human head in position, 
form, or importance, (o) The top, especially wheu 
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. 
He hied him to the head of the house, 
To the house top of Fyie. 
. i ,ii/i'. .- Lammie (Child's Ballads, II. 196). 
As much as the full moon doth [overshine] the cinders 
of the element, which show like pins' heads to her. 
Shale., 2 Hen. IV., iv. S. 
(6) 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. 
The wheat and barley which they sowed last winter are 
already in full head. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 49. 
(c) In lot., 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 shorten- 
ing of the rays the umbel becomes a head, as in Eryngium, 
Sanicula, etc. In the Compoxitce the flowers are always 
collected into a head, but they are then situated on a con- 
ical, 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 Characece Sachs applies 
the term head (kopfchen) to a peculiar hyaline cell situ- 
ated at the central end of each of the eight manubria. See 
head-cell, and cut under ant hocliniurn. (d) The main point 
or part ; that which constitutes the most conspicuous or 
most important feature. 
True, I have married her ; 
The very head, and front of my offending 
Hath this extent, no more. Shale., Othello, 1. S. 
(e) 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. 
After 7 miles riding, passing thro' a wood heretofore 
sacred to Juno, we came to Monteflascone, the head of 
the Falisci. Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 4, 1644. 
Where Macgregor site, there is the head of the table. 
Highland proverb. 
Gorizia has been for ages the head of a principality. 
B. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 9. 
(/) That end of a thing which is regarded as the upper 
end : as, the head of a bed ; the head of a street 
At the tothcr hede of the halle was, hegh vppolofte, 
A wonderfull werke weghes to beholde. 
Dettruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1672. 
He put his hand at her bed head, 
And there he found a gude grey horn. 
Leesome Brand (Child's Ballads, II. 346). 
The sheets thus produced receive their first fold (in the 
heads) in the direction of the axis of the cylinders which 
carry them ; the second fold (down the " back ") is given 
by a bar. Ure, Diet., IV. 682. 
(g) 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. (A) That which rises to the top, 
as the froth on a pot of beer. 
I add to the residual partially purified goods a ley of 
moderate strength only (instead of the finishing ley for 
curd soap), and boil, taking care that no head is formed. 
Watt, Soap-making, p. 73. 
(i) That part of an abscess or a boil where it breaks or 
seems likely to break: often used figuratively. (J) 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. 
Now I see 
The mystery of your loneliness, and find 
Your salt tears' head. Shot. , All's Well, i. S. 
Those bless'd flowers that dwell 
At the rough stream's calm head, thrive and do well. 
Donne, Satires (ed. 1819). 
Whence should this flood of passion, trow, take head} 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 2. 
(k) The accumulation of oil in oil-tubes when the pumps 
are idle. (I) A reliquaty in the shape of a human head. 
See chef, 3. (w) A headland or promontory, as in the 
names Gay Head, Flamborough Head. 
Our overplus of shipping will we burn ; 
And, with the rest full-mann'd, from the head of Actium 
Beat the approaching Csar. Shak., A. and C., iii. 7. 
At a head of land a little short they beheaded two sa- 
chems. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 278. 
(n) 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. (o) A bundle of flax measuring probably 2 feet in 
length, and weighing a few pounds. In Dorsetshire a head 
of hemp weighs 4 pound?. According to the statute of Ed- 
ward I. called Tractatustleponderilnis et menmris, a head 
of linen is 10 yards : " Cheef de fustiano constat ex tre- 
decimulnis: caput flndonis ex decem ulnis." (p) In whal- 
ing : (1) The upper end of a piece of blubber in boarding ; 
