Shak.
When a collective noun or a class is referred to, he is of common
gender. In early English, he referred to a feminine or neuter noun, or
to one in the plural, as well as to noun in the masculine singular. In
composition, he denotes a male animal; as, a he-goat.
-head (-hd), suffix. A variant of -hood.
Head (hd), n. [OE. hed, heved, heaved, AS. he·fod; akin to D. hoofd,
OHG. houbit, G. haupt, Icel. hˆfu, Sw. hufvud, Dan. hoved, Goth.
haubi˛. The word does not correspond regularly to L. caput head (cf. E.
Chief, Cadet, Capital), and its origin is unknown.] 1. The anterior or
superior part of an animal, containing the brain, or chief ganglia of
the nervous system, the mouth, and in the higher animals, the chief
sensory organs; poll; cephalon.
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 sail, a
ship; that which covers and closes the top or the end of a hollow
vessel; as, the head of a cask or a steam boiler.
3. The place where the head should go; as, the head of a bed, of a
grave, etc.; 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 a college, a school, a church, a
state, and the like. "Their princes and heads." Robynson (More's
Utopia).
The heads of the chief sects of philosophy.
Tillotson.
Your head I him appoint.
Milton.
5. The place or honor, or of command; the most important or foremost
position; the front; as, the head of the table; the head of a column of
soldiers.
An army of fourscore thousand troops, with the duke of Marlborough
at the head of them.
Addison.
6. Each one among many; an individual; -- often used in a plural sense;
as, a thousand head of cattle.
It 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; the mental
faculties; 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.
Men who had lost both head and heart.
Macaulay.
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 a given place, as above an
orifice at which it issues, and the pressure resulting from the height
or from motion; sometimes also, the quantity in reserve; as, a mill or
reservoir has a good head of water, or ten feet head; also, that part
of a gulf or bay most remote from the outlet or the sea.