head 
the square end cut off from the main piece, and separately 
hauled in. (2) That part of a whale which includes the 
white horse, junk, and case, as of a sperm-whale, or the 
whalebone and some blubber of a baleen-whale. (}) i 
torloi:e-luU manuf., the larger plates, taken collective y, 
of the upper shell of the caret or hawk's-bill turtle, usually 
thirteeiiTn "number, "(r) In musical notation, the princi- 
pal part of a note- that is, that part which indicates by 
its position on the staff the pitch of the tone : as, -^&^_: 
f : distinguished from the stem or tail. (See note.) 
Heads~are either open, as in semibreves and minims, or 
solid as in crotchets, quavers, etc. () In various stringed 
musical instruments of the lute and viol families, that part 
of the instrument above the neck where the tuning-pegs 
are inserted It is usually carved ornamentally, especially 
in the older instruments. See lute, viol, guitar, etc. (f 
musical instruments of the drum family, the stretched 
membrane covering one or both of the ends by striking 
which the tone is produced. The tension of the head and 
thus the pitch of the tone are governed by a ring around 
the edge, which may be raised or lowered, relaxing or 
tightening the membrane. See drum, tambourine. 
7. Iii hi/ilnm., the height of water above a given 
level, as in a pond or reservoir, considered as 
a measure of its quantity or force of fall : also 
reckoned in terms of the pressure of the water 
per square inch at the given level : as, a reser- 
voir with forty feet head of water. See fall. 
A mill driven by a fall of water, whose virtual head is 
ten feet. Grier, Mechanics Diet. 
8. In tiiifiimittics, the difference of pressure 
on a unit of base existing between two fluid 
columns of different densities communicating 
at their bases: estimated as the height of a 
column of the denser fluid whose pressure on 
a unit of its base is equal to the difference: 
as, the head which determines the velocity of 
flow in a chimney. 9. In steam- and gas- 
engin., the pressure of a confined volume of 
steam or gas upon a unit of the interior surface 
of a confining vessel, estimated in terms either 
of weight or of the height of a column of water 
or mercury which would exert the same pressure 
upon a unit of area of its base,: as, a full head 
of steam. 10. A culmination or crisis; height; 
force; strength; pitch. Compare def. 6 (t). 
Foul sin, gathering head, 
Shall break into corruption. 
Shak., Rich. II., v. 1. 
Now does my project gather to a head. 
Shale., Tempest, v. 1. 
The indisposition which has long hung upon me is at 
last grown to such a head that it must quickly make an 
end of me, or of itself. Addwon. 
11. Power; armed force. 
And 'tis no little reason bids us speed, 
To save our heads by raising of a head. 
Shak., IHen. IV., i. 3. 
Before I drew this gallant head of war, 
And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world. 
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 
Ten thousand Cornish, 
Grudging to pay your subsidies, have gather'd 
A head. ford, Perkin Warbeck, i. 3. 
Gin we meet a' together in a head the morn, 
We'll be merry men. 
Fray of Suport (Child's Ballads, VI. 117). 
12. A chief point or subject ; one of a number 
of successive topics of discourse, or a summary 
thereof: as, the heads of a discourse or treatise. 
If I would study the Cannon-Law as it is used in Eng- 
land, I must study the Heads here in use. 
Selden, Table-Talk, p. 31. 
The whole circle of travellers may be reduced to the 
following heads. Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 13. 
I shall say no more on this head, where wishes are so 
barren as mine. Walpole, Letters, II. 420. 
13. A printed or written title; a heading. In 
printing a chapter-head is the word chapter with its num- 
ber in large type ; a running head, the title of a book or 
a chapter continuously repeated at the top of the pages ; 
a side-head, a title inserted in the first line of a paragraph 
(as for example, the title- words in this dictionary); a sub- 
head a second title following the main one, or the title of 
a minor division of a chapter or other general division. 
14. In coal-mining : (a) A level or road driven 
into the solid coal for proving or working a 
mine, (b) The part of a face or breast nearest 
the roof. See heading, 10. 15. In angling, a 
feather or herl wound closely on the body of an 
artificial fly, both for ornament and to hide the 
butt-end of the wing where it is clipped off. 
-AccollcS heads, affronte heads. See the adjectives. 
By the head (jurat.). See fn/i. Cockatrice's head, 
cornute head, discoid head. See the qualifying words. 
Dragon's head and tall. See dragon. -Dynamic 
head, the head which reckoned statically would account 
for the pressure of a moving fluid. It is generally less 
than the actual head. Exserted head. See exxcrted. 
For my head. See for. - Hand over head. See hand. 
Head and shoulders, (a) By force ; violently : as, he 
was dragged head anil shoulders into the controversy. 
They bring in every figure of speech, head and shoul- 
ders. Felton. 
2749 
shoulders above his fellows. Head first, head fore- 
most with the head in front, as in diving or falling, or 
with the head bent forward, as in running; hence*, Inn 
riedly rashly, or precipitately. Head Of Lent, Ash Wed- 
nesday: same as Caput Jcjunii, the head of the Fast, in a 
homily on Ash Wednesday. 
Now good frendys, that je schalle cum to cherche for 
s hol fastne 
ow goo reny, 
hit ys the Heil & the begynnyuge of alle this holy fastynge 
of Lent. UainpsMt, Jledii vEvi Kalendarium (llarl. MS., 
Head of the pitches, in angling, the place where swift, 
smooth water breaks into ripples or rapids. Head on 
(naut.\ with the head directly or in a right line toward 
some object : as, the ship struck head, on. 
. 
(b) By the height of the head and shoulders ; hence, by a 
great deal ; by much ; by far ; greatly : as, he is head and 
The two vessels stood head on, bowing and curveting 
at each other. R. E. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 10. 
Head or tail, that part of a coin bearing a head or other 
principal figure or the reverse : a phrase used in throw- 
ing up a coin to determine a stake or chance. Compare 
cross and pile, under crossi . Head over heels. Same 
as heels over head. See heell. Heads and points, with 
the head of one opposite the feet of another lying by the 
side. 
On these [hurdles of reeds] round about the house they 
lie heads and points one by th' other against the fire, some 
covered with Mats, some with skins. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, 1. 131. 
Head to wind (naut.l in the situation of a ship or boat 
when her head is turned in the direction of the wind. - 
Neither head nor foot*. Same as neither head nor tail. 
Is it possible that this gear appertain anything to my 
cause? I find neither head nor foot in it. 
Oascoigne, Supposes, ii. 1. 
Neither head nor tail, neither one thing nor another; 
neither this thing nor that ; nothing distinct or definite. 
[Colloq.] Off one's head, crazy. [Colloq.] 
At present he is of his head; he does not know what 
he says or rather he is incapable of controlling his utter- 
ances W. Black, Phaeton, xm. 
Of one's own head, spontaneously ; without external in- 
fluence; upon one's own responsibility; of one's own pro- 
duction. See def. 2, above. 
It [the pistol] may go off of its own head. Sheridan. 
As the Church is settled, no man may make a Prayer in 
Publick ofhiioim head. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 90. 
The child's discretion in coming to me of his own head, 
and the tenderness he showed for his parents, . . . have 
quite overpowered me. Steele, Tatler, No. 114. 
Out of one's head, demented ; delirious. Out of one's 
own head, by one's own idea or invention. 
It ought to be left to children to suppose that nothing is 
original but that which we make up, as the childish phrase 
is,?i< of our own heads. J. McCarthy, Hist. Own Times, ii. 
Over head and ears. See eori. Sinking-head, in 
foumling, same as dead-head, 1 (a). This term is the one 
usually employed in the United States. Surface of 
equal head, an imaginary surface over which the dy- 
namical head is everywhere the same. To be by the 
head (naut.), to draw more water forward than aft : said 
of a ship. To blow heads and points, to run in all di- 
rections hither and thither, spouting and blowing, in great 
confusion: said of whales when attacked. To break 
one's head, to break Prisclan's head, to come into 
one's head See the verbs. To come to a head, (a) 
To suppurate, as a boil. (I>) To come to a crisis or consum- 
mation. Also to draw to a head. To eat one's head 
off, to fling the head, to gather to a head. See the 
verbs. To get a glass In one's head. See glass. To 
give head, see gm^.Ho go by the head (naut.), 
to plunge or sink head foremost ; begin to sink at the 
head: said of a foundering ship. To have a bee In 
one's head. See 4wi. To heap coals of fire on one s 
head. See coal. To hit the nail on the head. See run*. 
To lose one's head, to fail to preserve one's presence 
of mind or self-control ; become confused or distracted. 
But yonder, whiff ! there comes a sudden heat, 
The gravest citizen seems to lose his head, 
The king is scared, the soldier will not fight. 
Tennyson, Princess, Conclusion. 
To make head against, (a) To withstand effectively ; 
act or advance in spite of. 
Then made he head against his enimies. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 38. 
He was unable to make head against any of his sensa- 
tions or desires. Goldsmith, Richard Nash. 
(b) To resist with an opposing force ; combine against. 
At length the Devonshire men made head against a 
new host of Danes who landed on their coast. 
Dickens, Child's Hist. Eng., m. 
Most of these 
Made head against him, crying, "Who is he 
That he should rule us?" 
Tennyson, Coining of Arthur. 
To moor head and stern. See moor. To one's headt, 
to or before one's face. 
Revile him to his head. Jer. Taylor. 
To turn head, to turn one's head. See <.-To win 
by a head, in horse-racing, to reach the winning-post the 
length of the head in advance of another horse. Upon 
one's own headt. Same as of one's own head. 
This year M'. Allerton brought over a yonge man for a 
minister to y people hear, wheather upon his oime head, 
or at y c motion of some freinds ther, I well know not. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 243. 
Let no man, upon his own head, reprove the religion that 
is established by law. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 128. 
Virtual head, the pressure at any point of a liquid di- 
vided by its (uniform) specific gravity that is, by the 
product of its density into the acceleration of gravity. 
= Syn 4 Commander, Leader, etc. See chief. 
II. a. 1. Being at the head; first or fore- 
most ; chief ; principal : as, the head waters of a 
head 
river; the head man of a village ; a head work- 
man. 
It's the head court of them all. 
For in it rides the Queen. 
Tom, Linn (Child's Ballads, I. 270). 
And here comes in the stout head waiter, puffing under 
a tray of hot viands. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 4. 
The head man of Karagul, a tall old man whose long 
beard was dyed with henna to the colour of a fox's back, 
became very friendly with me. 0' Donovan, Merv, xi. 
2. Coming from in front ; bearing toward the 
head, as of a ship : as, a head wind ; a head sea. 
We had a head wind and rough sea. 
JJ. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 18. 
[In many instances usage varies between writing head 
separately as an adjective and joining it by a hyphen with 
a noun to make a compound.] 
Head boy, in England, the senior pupil in a public school 
or other grammar-school ; the captain of the school. 
A superannuated head-boy, whose mathematical profi- 
ciency had put more than one bepuzzled usher to the 
blush Mrs. Gore, Two Aristocracies, I. 2. 
Almost every gentleman who does me the honour to 
hear me will remember that ... the person to whom he 
has looked up with the greatest honour and reverence, 
was the head-boy at his school. The school-master him- 
self hardly inspires such an awe. . . . Joseph Addison was 
always his [Steele's] head-boy. 
Thackeray, Eng. Humourists, Steele. 
Head center. See center^, 10. Head reach. See reach. 
Head wall, the wall in the same plane as the face of 
an arched bridge. 
head (hed), v. [< ME. heden, heveden, behead, 
more commonly beheden : see behead. In other 
uses the verb is modern ; from the noun.] I. 
trans. 1. To take off the head of ; behead; de- 
capitate : now rare or obsolete, except with ref- 
erence to plants, fish, etc. : as, to head back a 
tree (that is, to prune it at the top, so as to pro- 
mote lateral instead of upward growth); tohead 
thistles; to head a fish. 
A bowt ij myle from Rama ys the Towne of Lydia, wher 
Seynt George suffered martyrdom and was hedyd. 
Torlcington, Diarie of Eng. Travel!, p. 24. 
If you head and hang all that offend that way. 
Shak., M. for M., ii. 1. 
In heading down a young tree, we cut away one-third or 
one-half of the length of the stem. 
P. Barry, Fruit Garden, p. 108. 
2. To be or put one's self at the head of; lead; 
direct ; act as leader of. 
Nor is what has been said of princes less true of all other 
governours, from him that heads an army to him that is 
master of a family. South, Sermons. 
And see the Soldier plead the Monarch's Right, 
Heading his Troops, and foremost in the Fight. 
Prior, Presented to the King. 
3. To form a head to ; fit or furnish with a head : 
as, to head a nail or a cask. 
And I will eat these broths with spoons of amber, 
Headed with diamond and carbuncle. 
B. Jonson, Alchemist, u. 1. 
Their arrowes are made some of straight young sprigs, 
which they head with bone, some 2 or 3 ynches long. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 132. 
The viewless arrows of his thoughts were headed 
And wing'd with fiame. 
Tennyson, The Poet. 
4. To make a beginning for; begin: as, to head 
a subscription-list. 
Heaven heads the count of crimes 
With that wild oath. Tennyson, Fair Women. 
5. To go in front of, so as to keep back or from 
advancing; get in front of : as, to head a drove 
of cattle. 
One of the outriders had succeeded in heading the equi- 
page and checking the horses. Disraeli, Coningsby, vi. 5. 
6. To turn or direct in advancing; give a for- 
ward direction to: as, to head a boat toward 
the shore. 7. To oppose, check, or restrain: 
as, the wind heads the ship (that is, the wind 
has so changed that the ship can no longer go 
on her course). 8. To go round the head or 
source of. 
They . . . headed a great creake, < so left the sands, & 
turned an other way into y woods. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 81. 
It is shorter to cross a stream than to head it. 
Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 11. 
To head off (a) To stop the progress of by getting in 
front : as, to head of a running horse. <b) To prevent by 
some counter action : as, to head of si scheme. 
II. intrant. 1. To come to or form a head, 
literally or figuratively. 
Check 
Your appetite and passions to our daughter, 
Before it head. Marston, The Fawne, ii. 1. 
No partial favor dropped the rain : 
Alike the righteous and profane 
Rejoiced above their heading grain. 
Whittier, Trimtas. 
2. Tooriginate; spring; have its head or source, 
as a river. 3. To direct one's motion; also, 
