Head

(hĕd), n. [A-S. heáfud, heáfod, heáfed, heáfd, Icel. hōfudh, hafudh, Sw. hufvud, Dan. hoved, D. hoofd, O. Sax. hovid, hōbhid, O. Fries. haved, Goth. haubith, O. H. Ger. houbit, M. H. Ger. houbet, houpt, N. H. Ger. haupt, allied to Lat. caput, Gr. κεφαλή.]

1. That part of any animal body which contains the collected perceptive organs of sense, and which is therefore foremost or uppermost in the creature’s locomotion. The central nervous masses are generally placed here in immediate connection with these organs, and hence it is the chief or most important part of the animal body. It always includes the mouth, and in man and the higher animals is connected with the rest of the trunk by a part called the neck.
2. The uppermost, foremost, or most important part of an inanimate object; such a part as may be considered to resemble the head of an animal; often, also, the larger, thicker, or heavier part or extremity, in distinction from the smaller or thinner part, or from the point or edge; as, the head of a cane, a nail, a spear, an ax, a mast, a ship, a cabbage, a sore.
3. The place where the head should go; as, the head of a bed, of a grave, &c.; the head of a carriage, that is, the hood which covers the head.
4. The most prominent or important member of any organized body; the chief; the leader; as, the head of an army, a column, a file, a church, a state, a school, and the like. “The heads of the chief sects of philosophy.” Tillotson. “Your head I him appoint.” Milton.
5. The place of honor, or of command; the most important position; the front; as, the head of the table; the head of troops.

An army of fourscore thousand troops, with Marlborough at the head of them, could do nothing. Addison. 6. Each one among many; an individual. “Thirty thousand head of swine.” Addison. If there be six millions of people, there are about four acres for every head. Graunt. 7. The seat of the intellect; the brain; the understanding; as, a good head, that is, a good mind; it never entered his head, it did not occur to him; of his own head, of his own thought or will. When in ordinary discourse we say a man has a fine head, we express ourself metaphorically, and speak in relation to his understanding. Addison.

8. The source, fountain, spring, or beginning, as of a stream or river; as, the head of the Nile; hence, the altitude of the source, or the height of the surface, as of water, above the orifice at which it issues, and also the quantity in reserve, and the pressure resulting from either; as, a mill or reservoir has a good head of water, or ten feet head; also, sometimes, that part of a gulf or bay most remote from the outlet or the sea.
9. A separate part, or topic, of a discourse; a theme to be expanded; a chapter or subdivision.
10. Culminating point or crisis; hence, strength; force; height.

The indisposition which has so long hung upon me, is at last grown to such a head, that it must quickly make an end of me or of itself. Addison. 11. State of a deer’s horns by which his age is known. The buck is called, the fifth year, a buck of the first head. Shak.

12. A rounded mass of foam which rises on a pot of beer, or other effervescing liquor. Mortimer.
13. A head-dress; a covering of the head; as, a laced head; a head of hair. Swift.
14. Power; armed force.

My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head. Shak. By the head (Naut.), laden too deeply at the fore-end;—said of a ship. —Head and ears, with the whole person; deeply; completely; as, he plunged head and ears into the water; he was head and ears in debt, that is, completely overwhelmed. —Head and shoulders. (a.) By force; violently; as, to drag one, head and shoulders. “They bring in every figure of speech, head and shoulders.” Felton. (b.) By the height of the head and shoulders; hence, by a great degree or space; by far; much; as, he is head and shoulders above them. —Head or tail, this side or that side; this thing or that;—a phrase used in throwing a coin to decide a choice, question, or stake, head being the side of the coin bearing the effigy or principal figure, and tail the other side. —Neither head nor tail, neither beginning nor end; neither this thing nor that; nothing distinct or definite;—a phrase used in speaking of what is indefinite or confused; as, they could make neither head nor tail of the matter. —To come to a head, to mature; as, a boil comes to a head. —To give one the head, or to give head, to let go control; hence, to free from restraint; to give license. “He gave his able horse the head.” Shak. “He has so long given his unruly passions the head.” South. —To his head, before his face. “An uncivil answer from a son to a father, from an obliged person to a benefactor, is a greater indecency than if an enemy should storm his house or revile him to his head.” Bp. Taylor. —To make head, or to make head against, to resist with success; to advance. —To turn head, to turn the face or front. “The ravishers turn head, the fight renews.” Dryden.

(hĕd), v. i. 1. To originate; to spring; to have its source, as a river. A broad river, that heads in the great Blue Ridge. Adair.

2. To go or tend; as, how does the ship head?
3. To form a head; as, this kind of cabbage heads early.