(and prep.) [A prep.1 in, at + HEAD.] Originally a nautical term. Now used fig. in all its senses.
1. At the head, in advance, in front (of a moving company).
1628. Digby, Voy. Medit. (1868), 2. That the Admirall … shall each seuerall night goe ahead.
1666. Lond. Gaz., lx/3. Our Fregats then which went on head, made sail.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, V. 205 (J.).
| And now the mighty Centaur seems to lead, | |
| And now the speedy Dolphin gets a-head. |
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, V. iv. 208. We have polled all our dead men, and Millbank is seven a-head.
2. In a position to the front, in the direct line of one’s motion.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 330. They saw it just before them, or, as the seamen call it, right ahead.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 92. When it blows right a-head from Plymouth Sound.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Breakers ahead! the common password to warn the officer of broken water in the direction of the course.
3. In a position or direction pointing forward.
1596. Sir F. Vere, Comm., 32. Their ships lay thwart with their broadsides towards us, and most of us right a-head, that we could use but our chasing pieces.
1823. J. F. Cooper, Pioneer, iii. (1869), 14/1. One who looked on a-head to the wants of posterity.
1873. Brit. Q. Rev., Jan. To enable the four guns carried in it to be fired directly ahead or astern.
4. Of motion: Forward, onward.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., I. 205. The boats with rowers mann’d are sent ahead.
5. Hence, Forward or onward at a rapid pace; headforemost, headlong; also fig. with headlong or unchecked course, unrestrainedly. esp. in the phrase to go a-head.
1643. Milton, Divorce, Ded. Wks. 1847, 123/1. Such whose capacity, since their youth run ahead into the easy creak of a system, sails there at will under the blown physiognomy of their unlaboured rudiments.
1694. R. L’Estrange, Fables (J.) (1753), No. 79, 64. They suffer them [children] at first to run a-head, and, when perverse Inclinations are advanced once into Habits, there is no dealing with them.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. i. 288. ’Tis the nature of the Hart, when he is close pursued, and almost spent, to make forth on Head.
1840. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), V. 24. We ‘go ahead’ quite as fast, as either the transporters or transported.
1879. Browning, Ivän, 111. He understood the case galloping straight a-head.
¶ Hence the adj. phr. go-a-head and its compounds.
1846. Kingsley, Life (1877), I. 143. It is the scientific go-a-head-ism of the day which must save us.
1865. Mill, Repres. Govt., 26/1. The striving go-ahead character of England and the United States.
6. Ahead of: away in front of, in advance of.
1748. Anson, Voyage, III. vi. (ed. 4), 465. A boat ahead of us waved a red flag.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 385. I was working, all the time, to get ahead of Edith.
1835. Sir J. Ross, N.-W. Pass., xlvi. 588. The large iceberg ahead of us.
1876. Green, Short Hist., Epil. The rapid development of English industry for a time ran ahead of the world’s demands.
7. quasi-prep. Short for ahead of.
1596. Sir F. Vere, Comm., 32. Sir Walter Raleigh came upon my left side with his ship, and very little a head me cast his anchor.
