heads

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of head.

   The children turned their heads toward the sudden noise.

   Workers bowed their heads as the procession passed.

   Note

   The ordinary -s plural, covering every countable use of head: bodies, minds, headaches, people counted one by one. When head counts individuals it can also stay unchanged (so many head), so heads is not the only plural on offer. The same spelling is also the verb form in "he heads", a different word grammatically despite looking identical.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of head.

   He heads the committee that reviews planning applications.

   The road heads north for ten miles before it reaches the coast.

   Note

   The verb form that shares its spelling with the plural noun: he heads the team, the road heads north, the river heads in the hills. One trap is head up. She heads up the committee uses the verb with a particle, written open. A heads-up, hyphenated, is a noun meaning a warning, and the two should not be mixed.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Either of the two faces of a coin, the one called when tossing it.

   He flipped the quarter and slapped it down, hoping for heads.

   If it comes up heads, we take the early train.

   Oppositetails

   Note

   The word of the coin toss, called aloud before the coin lands: heads, I win. It is used without an article (it came up heads, call heads) and stays plural in form even though it names one face. Which face that is depends on the coinage: usually the portrait side, though Irish usage sometimes reverses this, as the Irish harp convention shows.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The face of a coin bearing the picture of the head of state or another national symbol.

   She rubbed the coin until heads gleamed, the sovereign's likeness clear again.

   The mint redesigned heads to feature the new ruler within months of the coronation.

   Similarobverse

   Oppositetails

   Note

   The everyday name for what collectors call the obverse, and the call that answers tails when a coin is tossed. The convention is a habit rather than a rule. Where a coinage reverses the pattern, heads simply means the face without the emblem, as in the Irish harp convention. When precision matters, obverse removes the doubt.

5. 5
   interjection

   A shouted warning that something is falling from above; a call to mind your head.

   Heads! The scaffolding plank just slipped loose up top.

   Someone on the crane shouted, "Heads!" and the workers scattered below.

   Note

   A warning shouted to everyone underneath at once, which is why it is plural: the full thought is "mind your heads." It is called out the moment something drops, not as advance notice, and it asks people to move rather than look up and wonder. Heads-up carries the same idea in a single compound.

6. 6
   nounabbreviationclipping

   Clipping of headphones.

   The sound engineer clamped on a pair of heads to check the mix.

   Bring your own heads if you want to listen during the flight.

   Note

   A clipping that keeps its plural: like headphones, it normally takes plural agreement, as in the heads are on the desk or a pair of heads. It belongs to casual speech, the register of pass me the heads, I wanna listen. Do not confuse it with the marijuana slang, which is uncountable and never means a pair of anything.

7. 7
   nounslanguncountable

   Marijuana of high quality and potency.

   He paid a premium for heads, swearing the difference was worth it.

   The whole batch was heads, dense and heavy with resin.

   Note

   Drug slang with its own origin, unrelated to the plural: head, from the idea that it gives a head high, plus an -s that may be possessive or plural. It is uncountable, so you speak of some heads or good heads, never a head. As slang it belongs to casual talk; in neutral writing, high-grade marijuana is the safer phrase.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   The toilet on a ship, originally the open area at the bow of old sailing vessels where the crew relieved themselves.

   He cleaned the heads as part of his daily duties aboard the frigate.

   Passengers were shown where the heads were before the yacht left the dock.

   Similartoilet, latrine, lavatory

   Note

   Sailors named the toilet after its place: forward of the forecastle, around the beak, at the very front of older sailing ships, where the crew went. The word outlived that layout and now names any toilet aboard, usually as the heads. On a boat it is the natural word to use, even on a modern yacht with nothing like a beak.

9. 9
   nounIrelanduncountable

   On Irish coinage, the face of a coin that does not bear an image of the harp.

   He turned the punt coin to heads, away from the familiar harp.

   Among the old pennies, heads carried a hen and chicks rather than the national harp.

   Similarreverse

   Oppositeharps

   Note

   An Irish usage that flips the usual logic. Because the harp is the national emblem on Irish coins, the toss is sometimes heads or harps, and heads names the face without the harp. That is the side a collector would call the reverse. So here heads is not the obverse at all, the opposite of the portrait-side meaning.

10. 10
    nounIrelandcountable

    The outline of a proposed bill, setting out its main provisions before it is formally put before parliament.

    Ministers published the heads of the proposed reform for public comment.

    The cabinet debated the heads at length before approving a full draft.

    Similaroutline

    Note

    A term of Irish lawmaking with a long history. Before 1782, under Poynings' Law, bills could formally begin only in the Irish privy council, so informal heads of bills were introduced in the houses of parliament instead. The term survives in current practice: in 2012 the Department of Justice and Equality published the Heads of the Bill for consultation before detailed drafting.

11. 11
    nouncountable

    The course of tiles laid at the eaves, along the lower edge of a roof.

    She noticed two broken heads near the gutter during the inspection.

    Bedding the heads properly keeps rain from driving up under the roof.

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