King James Bible Dictionary

Shaven when vows were taken
Acts 21:24

Diseases of
Isaiah 3:17

Anointed
Leviticus 14:18; Leviticus 14:29

HEAD, noun hed.

1. The uppermost part of the human body, or the foremost part of the body of prone and creeping animals. This part of the human body contains the organs of hearing, seeing, tasting and smelling; it contains also the brain, which is supposed to be the seat of the intellectual powers, and of sensation. Hence the head is the chief or more important part, and is used for the whole person, in the phrase, let the evil fall on my head

2. An animal; an individual; as, the tax was raised by a certain rate per head And we use the singular number to express many. The herd contains twenty head of oxen.

Thirty thousand head of swine.

3. A chief; a principal person; a leader; a commander; one who has the first rank or place, and to whom others are subordinate; as the head of an army; the head of a sect or party. Ephesians 5:23.

4. The first place; the place of honor, or of command. The lord mayor sat at the head of the table. The general marched at the head of his troops.

5. Countenance; presence; in the phrases, to hide the head to show the head

6. Understanding; faculties of the mind; sometimes in a ludicrous sense; as, a man has a good head or a strong head These men laid their heads together to form the scheme. Never trouble your head about this affair. So we say, to beat the head; to break the head; that is, to study hard, to exercise the understanding or mental faculties.

7. Face; front; forepart.

The ravishers turn head the fight renews. [Unusual.]

8. Resistance; successful opposition; in the phrase, to make head against, that is, to advance, or resist with success.

9. Spontaneous will or resolution; in the phrases, of his own head on their own head But of is more usual than on.

10. 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

11. The top of a thing, especially when larger than the rest of the thing; as the head of a spear; the head of a cabbage; the head of a nail; the head of a mast.

12. The forepart of a thing, as the head of a ship, which includes the bows on both sides; also, the ornamental figure or image erected on or before the stem of a ship.

13. The blade or cutting part of an ax, distinct from the helve.

14. That which rises on the top; as the head or yeast of beer.

15. The upper part of a bed, or bed-stead.

16. The brain.

They turn their heads to imitate the sun.

17. The dress of the head; as a laced head [Unusual.]

18. The principal source of a stream; as the head of the Nile.

19. Altitude of water in ponds, as applicable to the driving of mill-wheels. The mill has a good head of water.

20. Topic of discourse; chief point or subject; a summary; as the heads of a discourse or treatise.

21. Crisis; pitch; highth. The disease has grown to such a head as to threaten life.

22. Influence; force; strength; pitch. The sedition got to such a head as not to be easily quelled.

23. Body; conflux.

24. Power; armed force.

My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head

25. Liberty; freedom from restrain; as, to give a horse the head Hence,

26. License; freedom from check, control or restraint.

Children should not have their heads.

He has too long given his unruly passions the head

27. The hair of the head; as a head of hair.

28. The top of corn or other plant; the part on which the seed grows.

29. The end, or the boards that form the end; as the head of a cask.

30. The part most remote from the mouth or opening into the sea; as the head of a bay, gulf or creek.

31. The maturated part of an ulcer or boil; hence, to come to a head is to suppurate.

HEAD and ears, a phrase denoting the whole person, especially when referring to immersion. He plunged head and ears into the water. He was head and ears in debt, that is, completely overwhelmed.

HEAD and shoulders, by force; violently; as, to drag one head and shoulders.

They bring in every figure of speech, head and shoulders.

HEAD or tail, or head nor tail, uncertain; not reducible to certainty.

HEAD, as an adj. or in composition, chief; principal; as a head workman.

By the head in seamen's language, denotes the state of a ship laden too deeply at the fore-end.

HEAD, verb transitive hed. To lead; to direct; to act as leader to; as, to head an army; to head an expedition; to head a riot.

1. To behead; to decapitate. [Unusual.]

2. To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head; as, to head a nail.

3. To lop; as, to head trees.

4. To go in front of; to get into the front; as, to head a drove of cattle.

5. To set on the head; as, to head a cask.

6. To oppose; to veer round and blow in opposition to the course of a ship; as, the wind heads us.

HEAD, verb intransitive hed. To originate; to spring; to have its source, as a river.

A broad river that heads in the great Blue Ridge of mountains.

HEADACH, noun hed'ake. Pain in the head.

HEADBAND, noun hed'band. A fillet; a band for the head; also, the band at each end of a book. Isaiah 3:20.

(Heb. kishshurim), properly girdles or belts for the waist (Isaiah 3:20, R.V., "sashes;" Jeremiah 2:32, rendered "attire", i.e., a girdle round the waist).

Isaiah 3:20

HEADBOROUGH, noun hed'burro. In England, formerly, the chief of a frank-pledge, tithing or decennary, consisting of ten families; called in some counties, borsholder, that is, borough; s elder, and sometimes tithing man.

Not in common use among the Hebrews. It is first mentioned in Exodus 28:40 (A.V., "bonnets;" R.V., "head-tires"). It was used especially for purposes of ornament (Job 29:14; Isaiah 3:23; 62:3). The Hebrew word here used, tsaniph, properly means a turban, folds of linen wound round the head. The Hebrew word peer, used in Isaiah 61:3, there rendered "beauty" (A.V.) and "garland" (R.V.), is a head-dress or turban worn by females (Isaiah 3:20, "bonnets"), priests (Exodus 39:28), a bridegroom (Isaiah 61:10, "ornament;" R.V., "garland"). Ezekiel 16:10 and Jonah 2:5 are to be understood of the turban wrapped round the head. The Hebrew shebisim (Isaiah 3:18), in the Authorized Version rendered "cauls," and marg. "networks," denotes probably a kind of netted head-dress. The "horn" (Heb. keren) mentioned in 1 Samuel 2:1 is the head-dress called by the Druses of Mount Lebanon the tantura.

The Hebrews do not appear to have regarded a covering for the head as an essential article of dress. Hats were unknown. The earliest notice we have of such a thing is in connection with the sacerdotal vestments. (Exodus 28:40) The tsaniph (something like a turban) is noticed as being worn by nobles, (Job 29:14) ladies, (Isaiah 3:23) and kings, (Isaiah 62:3) while the peer was an article of holiday dress, (Isaiah 61:3) Authorized Version "beauty;" (Ezekiel 24:17,23) and was worn at weddings. (Isaiah 61:10) The ordinary head-dress of the Bedouin consists of the keffieh , a square handkerchief, generally of red and yellow cotton or cotton and silk, folded so that three of the corners hang down over the back and shoulders, leaving the face exposed, and bound round the head by a cord. It is not improbable that a similar covering was used by the Hebrews on certain occasions. The Assyrian head-dress is described in (Ezekiel 23:15) under the terms "exceeding in dyed attire." The word rendered "hats" in (Daniel 3:21) properly applies to a cloak.

HEAD'DRESS, noun hed'dress. The dress of the head; the covering or ornaments of a woman's head.

1. The crest, or tuft of feathers on a fowl's head.

HEADED, participle passive hed'ed. Led; directed; furnished with a head; having a top. This is used in composition, as clear-headed, long-headed, thick-headed, etc.

HEADER,noun hed'er. One who heads nails or pins.

1. One who leads a mob or party.

2. The first brick in the angle of a wall.

HEADFAST, noun hed'fast. A rope at the head of a ship to fasten it to a wharf or other object.

HEADFIRST, adverb hedfurst. With the head foremost.

HEADGARGLE, noun hed'gargle. A disease of cattle.

HEADGEAR, noun hed'gear. The dress of a woman's head.

HEADINESS, noun hed'iness. [See Heady.] Rashness; precipitation; a disposition to rush forward without due deliberation or prudence.

1. Stubbornness; obstinacy.

HEADING, noun hed'ing. Timber for the heads of casks.

HEADLAND, noun hed'land. A cape; a promontory; a point of land projecting from the shore into the sea, or other expanse of water.

1. A ridge or strip of unplowed land at the ends of furrows, or near a fence.

HEADLESS, adjective hed'less. Having no head; beheaded; as a headless body, neck or carcass.

1. Destitute of a chief or leader.

2. Destitute of understanding or prudence; rash; obstinate.

HEADLONG, adverb hed'long. With the head foremost; as, to fall headlong

1. Rashly; precipitately; without deliberation.

--He hurries headlong to his fate.

2. Hastily; without delay or respite.

HEADLONG, adjective hed'long. Steep; precipitous.

1. Rash; precipitate; as headlong folly.

HEADMAN, noun hed'man. A chief; a leader.

HEADMOLD-SHOT, noun A disease in children, in which the sutures of the skull, usually the coronal, ride, that is, when their edges shoot over one another, and are so close-locked as to compress the brain; often occasioning convulsions and death.

HEAD'MONEY, noun hed'munny. A capitation-tax.

HEADMOST, adjective hed'most. Most advanced; most forward; first in a line or order of progression; as the headmost ship in a fleet.

HEAD-PAN, noun hed'-pan. The brain-pan. [Not in use.]

HEAD-PIECE, noun hed'-pece. Armor for the head; a helmet; a morion.

1. Understanding; force of mind. [Not common.]

HEADQUART'ERS, noun plural The quarters or place of residence of the commander-in-chief of an army.

1. The residence of any chief, or place from which orders are issued.

HEAD-ROPE, noun hed'-rope. That part of a bolt-rope which terminates any sail on the upper edge, and to which it is sewed.

HEAD-SAIL, noun hed'-sail. The head-sails of a ship are the sails which are extended on the fore-mast and bowsprit, as the foresail, foretop-sail, jib, etc.

HEAD-SEA, noun hed'-sea. Waves that meet the head of a ship or roll against her course.

HEADSHAKE, noun hed'shake. A significant shake of the head.

HEADSHIP, noun hed'ship. Authority; chief place.

HEADSMAN, noun hed'sman. One that cuts off heads; an executioner. [Unusual.]

HEADSPRING, noun hed'spring. Fountain; source; origin.

HEADSTALL, noun hed'stall. That part of a bridle which encompasses the head.

HEADSTONE, noun hed'stone. The principal stone in a foundation; the chief or corner stone.

1. The stone at the head of a grave.

HEADSTRONG, adjective hed'strong. Violent; obstinate; ungovernable; resolute to run his own way; bent on pursuing his own will; not easily restrained.

Now let the headstrong boy my will control.

1. Directed by ungovernable will or proceeding from obstinacy; as a headstrong course.

HEAD'STRONGNESS,noun Obstinacy. [Not in use.]

HEADTIRE, noun hed'tire. Dress or attire for the head. 1 Esdra 3.

HEADWAY, noun hed'way. The motion of an advancing ship. A ship makes headway when she advances, as from a state of rest.

HEAD-WIND, noun hed'-wind. A wind that blows in a direction opposite to the ship's course.

HEAD-WORK'MAN, noun The chief workman of a party; a foreman in a manufactory.

HEADY, adjective hed'y. [See Head.] Rash; hasty; precipitate; violent; disposed to rush forward in an enterprise without thought or deliberation; hurried on by will or passion; ungovernable.

All the talent required, is to be heady to be violent on one side or the other.

1. Apt to affect the head; inflaming; intoxicating; strong; as spirituous liquors.

Champagne is a heady wine.

2. Violent; ; impetuous; as a heady current. [Not usual.]