subs. (tailors’).—A notability; a BIG-WIG (q.v.).
TO TAKE A HEADER, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To plunge, or fall, headforemost, into water: and (theatrical), to take an apparently dangerous leap in sensational drama. Hence, to go straight and directly for one’s object.
1856. Inside Sebastopol, ch. xiv. We may surely shut the door and take a HEADER.
1863. Fun, 4 April, p. 23. Did the chairman commence the proceedings by TAKING A TREMENDOUS HEADER … a verbatim report might be interesting.
1884. W. C. RUSSELL, Jack’s Courtship, ch. vii. ‘Miss Hawke,’ said I, plucking up my heart for a HEADER, and going in, so to speak, with my eyes shut and my hands clenched.
