subs. (nautical).—1. A man-of-war’s privy.
2. (common).—The obverse of a coin or medal. HEADS OR TAILS? = Guess whether the coin spun will come down with head uppermost or not. [The side not bearing the Sovereign’s head has various devices: Britannia, George and the Dragon, a harp, the Royal arms, an inscription, etc.—all included in the word ‘tail,’ i.e., the reverse of ‘head.’ The Romans said HEADS or SHIPS?]
d. 1680. BUTLER, Remains (1759), ii., 431. Let his chance prove what it will, he plays at CROSS YOU LOSE, and PILE YOU WIN.
1871. Observer, 16 April. Perhaps for the first time Parliament is asked to enjoin a settlement of public dispute by means of tossing HEADS OR TAILS, ‘cross or pile.’
3. (old).—An arrangement of the hair; a coiffure.
1773. GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, ii., 10. Pray how do you like this HEAD?… I dressed it myself from a print in the Ladies’ Memorandum Book for the last year.
TO HAVE AT ONE’S HEAD, verb. phr. (old).—To cuckold.
1640. J. GOUGH, The Strange Discovery, ii., 6.
| Nebulon. Not, if you stay at home and warme my bed, | |
| But if you leave me, then HAVE AT YOUR HEAD. |
TO TAKE ONE IN THE HEAD, verb. phr. (old).—To come into one’s mind.
1609. HOLLAND, Ammianus Marcellinus, 165. Now, IT TOOKE HIM IN THE HEAD, and incensed was his desires (seeing Gaule now quieted) to set first upon Constantius.
TO DO ON HEAD, verb. phr. (old).—To act rashly.
1559. T. ELYOT, Dictionary. Abruptum ingenium, a rash brayne that dooeth all thinges ON HEAD.
TO DO ON ONE’S HEAD, phr. (thieves’).—To do easily and with joy.
TO FLY AT THE HEAD, verb. phr. (old).—To attack; to GO FOR (q.v.).
1614. Terence in English. Fellow servant, I can very hardly refraine my selfe, but that I must needes FLEE AT THE HEAD OF HIM.
TO EAT ONE’S HEAD. See HAT.
TO EAT ONE’S (or IT’S) HEAD OFF, verb. phr. (common).—To cost more than the worth in keep.
1703. Country Farmer’s Catechism. My mare has EATEN HER HEAD OFF at the Ax in Aldermanbury.
1878. PARKER GILLMORE, The Great Thirst Land, ch. vii. Our horses were EATING THEIR HEADS OFF at livery.
1893. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 1 Feb., p. 384, 2. A lot of raw material in stock which, in local parlance, would EAT ITS HEAD OFF if kept warehoused.
TO RUN ON HEAD, verb. phr. (old).—To incite.
1556. HEYWOOD, The Spider and the Flie. Thirdlie: to set cocke on hope and RUN ON HEADE.
TO GIVE ONE’S HEAD (or ONE’S BEARD) FOR WASHING, verb. phr. (old).—To yield tamely and without resistance. Fr., laver la tête = to reprimand; to admonish with point, energy, and force.
1615. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, Cupid’s Revenge, iv., 3.
| 2 Cit. I am resolved. | |
| 1 Cit. And so am I, and forty more good fellows, | |
| That will not GIVE THEIR HEADS FOR THE WASHING, I take it. |
1663. BUTLER, Hudibras, I., iii., 255.
| For my part, it shall ne’er be said | |
| I FOR THE WASHING GAVE MY HEAD: | |
| Nor did I turn my back for fear. |
TO PUT A HEAD (or NEW-HEAD) ON ONE, verb. phr. (common).—1. To change a man’s aspect by punching his head: hence, to get the better of one’s opponent; to annihilate. Also TO PUT A NEW FACE ON.
18[?]. F. OLIVE, Words and Their Uses.
| But all his jargon was surpassed, in wild absurdity, | |
| By threats, profanely emphasized, TO ‘PUT A HEAD’ ON ME!… | |
| For instead of PUTTING ON A HEAD he strove to smite off mine! |
1883. BRET HARTE, The Society upon the Stanislaus. To lay for that same member for TO ‘PUT A HEAD’ ON HIM.
1888. J. RUNCIMAN, The Chequers, p. 80. I’d PUT A NEW HEAD ON YER for tuppence.
2. (colloquial).—To froth malt liquors. (E.g., ‘Put a head on it, Miss,’ addressed to the barmaid, is a request to work the engine briskly, and make the liquor take on a CAULIFLOWER (q.v.).]
HEADS I WIN, TAILS YOU LOSE, phr. (common).—A gage of certainty = In no case can I fail: I hold all the trumps.
1890. Welfare, March, p. 8., c. 1. A director holding shares to the extent of £50 will draw a yearly recognition of his patronage to the tune of £100. It is unnecessary to ask whether such a course of speculation follows the principle of TAILS YOU LOSE, HEADS I WIN.
TO GET THE HEAD INTO CHANCERY, verb. phr. (formerly pugilists’: now common).—To get the other fighter’s head under one arm and hold it there; a position of helplessness. See CHANCERY.
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 18.
| When Georgy, one time, got the HEAD of the Bear | |
| INTO CHANCERY. |
2. (colloquial).—Hence to get, or be got, into a posture of absolute helplessness.
TO KNOCK ON THE HEAD, verb. phr. (common).—To kill; to destroy; to put an end to.
1871. Weekly Dispatch, 21 May. ‘Police Report.’ The magistrate (Mr. Newton) refused the application for bail, remarking that the sooner the house was done away with the better, and he would take care that it and all connected with it were KNOCKED ON THE HEAD.
TO GET (or PUT) THE HEAD IN A BAG. See BAG.
TO GET (or HAVE) A SWELLING IN THE (or A BIG-) HEAD, verb. phr. (common).—To be or become conceited; to put on airs.
1888. Cincinnati Enquirer. Anna Kelly … is missing from her home in Newport. Somebody has been SWELLING HER HEAD.
1890. Star, 27 Jan. Although he received but £100 for his share, he GOT THE BIG HEAD, went to pieces, and is now on the retired list.
TO HIT THE RIGHT NAIL ON THE HEAD, verb. phr. (common).—To speak or act with precision and directness; to do the right thing. [The colloquialism is common to most languages. The French say, Vous avez frappé au but (= You have hit the mark). The Italians, Havete dato in brocca (= You have hit the pitcher: alluding to a game where a pitcher stood in the place of AUNT SALLY [q.v.]). The Latins, Rem acu tetigisti (= You have touched the thing with a needle: referring to the custom of probing sores.]
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, iii., 21.
| The common Proverb as it is read, | |
| That a Man must HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD. |
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 43. That’s what I meant when I said that that josser, whose name I’ve forgotten ’ad ’IT THE RIGHT NAIL ON THE ’EAD.
TO ARGUE (or TALK) ONE’S HEAD OFF, verb. phr. (common).—To be extremely disputative or loquacious; to be all JAW (q.v.).
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 22. ARGUE YOUR ’EAD OFF like.
TO BUNDLE OUT HEAD (or NECK) AND HEELS, verb. phr. (common).—To eject with violence.
TO HAVE NO HEAD, verb. phr. (common).—1. (of persons). To lack ballast; to be crack-brained. See APARTMENTS TO LET. Hence, TO HAVE A HEAD ON = to be cute, alert; TO HAVE SAND (q.v.).
1888. LYNCH, A Mountain Mystery, ch. ii. Caledonia was declared to possess a Coroner with a HEAD, and a very good one, on him, and a messenger was sent to rouse him.
2. (of malt liquors).—To be flat. See CAULIFLOWER.
TO HAVE A HEAD, verb. phr. (common).—To experience the after-effects of heavy drinking (cf., MOUTH); also TO HAVE A HEAD-ACHE. For synonyms, see SCREWED.
TO GIVE ONE HIS HEAD, verb. phr. (common).—To give one full and free play; to let go.
TO HAVE MAGGOTS IN THE HEAD, verb. phr. (common).—To be crotchetty, whimsical, freakish; TO HAVE A BEE IN ONE’S BONNET. For synonyms, see APARTMENTS.
TO HURT IN THE HEAD, verb. phr. (old).—To cuckold; to cornute.
TO LIE HEADS AND TAILS, verb. phr. (common).—To sleep packed sardine fashion, i.e., heads to head-rail and foot-rail alternately.
OVER HEAD AND EARS (in work, love, debt, etc.), phr. (common).—Completely engrossed in; infatuated with; to the fullest extent.
1589. NASHE, Pasqvill of England (GROSART), i., 114. Presently he fetcheth his seas himselfe, and leaps very boldly OUER HEADE AND EARES.
1706. GEORGE GRANVILLE, LORD LANSDOWNE, Prologue to the British Enchanters
| In gingling Rhyme, well fortify’d and strong, | |
| He fights entrench’d, o’er HEAD AND EARS, IN SONG. |
WITHOUT HEAD OR TAIL, adv. phr. (common).—Incoherent; neither one thing nor the other. E.g., I can’t make head or tail of it = I cannot make it out.
1728. VANBRUGH, A Journey to London, iv. 1. He had the insolence to intrude into my very dressing-room here, with a story WITHOUT HEAD OR TAIL.
1736. FIELDING, Pasquin, v. Take this play, and bid ’em forthwith act it; there is not in it either HEAD OR TAIL.
1874. E. WOOD, Johnny Ludlow, 1st Series, No. 12, p. 203. Mrs. Blair has been writing us a strange rigmarole, which nobody can MAKE HEAD OR TAIL OF.
1891. W. C. RUSSELL, An Ocean Tragedy, p. 22. There is nothing to MAKE HEADS OR TAILS OF in it that I can see.
TO HAVE A HEAD LIKE A SIEVE, verb. phr. (common).—To be unreliable; to be forgetful.
HEADS OUT! phr. (American university).—A warning cry on the approach of a master.
ARSE OVER HEAD. See ARSE and HEELS OVER HEAD.
MUTTON-HEAD (or -HEADED).—See MUTTON-HEAD.
FAT (or SOFT) IN THE HEAD, adv. phr. (common).—Stupid. For synonyms, see APARTMENTS.
OFF ONE’S HEAD, adv. phr. (common).—Stupid; crazy. For synonyms, see APARTMENTS.
SHUT YOUR HEAD, phr. (American).—‘Hold your jaw.’
