head
Pluralheads, head
Pluralheads, head
- 1
- 2To go in a certain direction or toward a place.
We're heading north for the holiday.
Let's head home before it rains.
UsageSay where: head for town, head home, head north.
Similarbear
- 3The person in charge of a group or organization.
She became head of the science lab last year.
Police arrested the head of the gang.
UsageSay the head of the family.
Oppositesubordinate
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8The side of a coin with a picture of a head, which you can call when a coin is flipped.
"Heads or tails?" Dad asked, tossing the coin into the air.
I called heads, and the coin landed on heads, so I went first.
Oppositetails
Note
Less common meanings
- 9A tight ball or bunch of leaves, flowers, or seeds on a plant.
We bought two heads of lettuce for the salad.
Each sunflower head holds hundreds of seeds.
UsageSay a head of lettuce.
Similarear
- 10One person or animal, counted as a unit, as in ten dollars a head or fifty head of cattle.
The farmer keeps two hundred head of sheep.
Dinner cost forty pounds a head.
UsageTen dollars a head means ten dollars for each person.
Similarperson, individual
- 11
- 12To hit a ball with your head.
He headed the ball into the net.
You can't head a ball that low.
Similarnod
- 13
- 14The heavy end of a hammer or axe that hits things.
The head of the axe flew off the handle.
The head of my golf club came loose on the first swing.
- 15
- 16
- 17The teacher who runs a school.
The head gave a speech on the first day of term.
The head rang my parents that evening.
UsageShort for head teacher: the head's office.
Similarprincipal, headmaster, headmistress, chief
Oppositesubordinate
Note
- 18
- 19A natural ability for something, often used with 'for'.
She has a good head for business.
I've never had much of a head for names.
UsageSay have a head for numbers, or no head for heights.
Similarmind
Note
- 20
- 21
- 22The top part of an engine that closes the cylinders and usually holds the valves.
The mechanic took the head off to check the valves.
A cracked head lets coolant into the oil.
Note
- 23
- 24Pressure that builds up in a liquid or a gas, such as water or steam.
The old train needs a good head of steam before it can leave the station.
The tank sits high on the hill, so the water has enough head to reach every house.
Similarpressure
Note
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32The part of a machine that reads or records sound or data on a tape or disk.
The music sounds muddy because the head in the tape player is dirty.
My old VCR needs new heads.
- 33
- 34
- 35The end of an infected, swollen spot where pus (thick yellowish liquid) gathers.
The doctor waited for the boil to come to a head before draining it.
There was a small white head on the swelling on his neck.
Note
- 36The rounded end of a bone that fits against another bone at a joint.
- 37Moving forward against something that pushes back.
- 38To cut the top off a tree or plant.
- 39All the wild animals that can be hunted in a place.
- 40A deer's antlers.
- 41In pool, the end of the table that players break from.
- 42The frame and net at the top of the stick in lacrosse, for catching and carrying the ball.
- 43The housing on a milling machine for the shaft that spins the cutter.
- 44The end piece that closes a round tank under pressure.
- 45The flat round end of a barrel.
- 46Where a valley starts, high up.
- 47Material found near the top of layers of rock.
- 48The end of a guitar neck that holds the tuning pegs.
- 49The top of a sail, along its upper side or at its highest corner.
- 50Someone who is an expert on hip hop.
- 51The top part of a grain plant where the seeds grow.
- 52The leaves and branches at the very top of a tree.
- 53A row of tiles along where a roof hangs over the walls.
- 54The main tune of a song or piece of music.
- 55The main word in a phrase that decides what kind of phrase it is.
- 56The first liquid that comes off when you distill something.
- 57A subject that people talk or write about.
- 58The height of liquid or gas above a point, or the pressure that height makes there.
- 59How much energy a fluid has for each unit of its weight.
- 60A person who uses illegal drugs a lot.
- 61Power or an army.
My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head:
1591, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt” - 62For or about the top part of the body above the neck.
- 63To take off a fish's head, as when cleaning it.
- 64Of a river, to start in a certain place.
- 65Of a plant, to grow a tight bunch of leaves, flowers or seeds.
- 66To make a head on an object or attach one to it.
- 67To cut off a person's or animal's head.
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
c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure” - 68To lead the way.
- 69To get ahead of something to block it.
- 70To hold back.
Showing meanings only.
More uses
- headsthe side of a coin with a head on it, called when tossing a coin
- come to a headto reach a point where something must be dealt with
Practice
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Origins
From Old English hēafod, meaning "head" or "top," which goes back to an ancient Proto-Indo-European root. It is related to Latin caput.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Head derives from Old English hēafod. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English hēafod meant head or top. gutenberg.org
- The word ultimately derives from a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form. en.wiktionary.org
- Head is related to Latin caput. en.wiktionary.org
From Old English hēafod- meaning "main," which came from the noun meaning "head."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Head in this sense descends from Old English hēafod-, meaning ‘main’. en.wiktionary.org
- The form ultimately derives from the noun meaning ‘head’. en.wiktionary.org