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 last year.
To have at one’s head, verb. phr. (old).—To cuckold.
1640. Gough, Strange Discovery. Not if you stay at home, and warm
my bed; But if you leave me, have at your head.
To take one in the head, verb. phr. (old).—To come into one’s mind.
1609. Holland, Amenianus Marcellinus. Now, it tooke him in the
head, and incensed was his desires (seeing Gaule now quited) to set
first upon Constantius.
To do on head, verb. phr. (old). To act rashly.
1559. Eliote, Dict. 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 its) 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, Great Thirst Land, ch. vii. Our horses were
eating their heads off at livery.
1893. Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 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, Spider and Fly. 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. I’m
resolved.... 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.
1870. R. Grant White, Words and their Uses. But all his jargon was
surpassed, in wild absurdity, By threats, profanely emphasised, to
put a head on me.... Instead of putting on a head he strove to
smite off mine.
18(?). Bret Harte, Further Words from Truthful James. To go for
that same party for to put a head on him.
1888. 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, Mar., 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. Moore, Tom Crib, 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. Durfey, Pills, etc., 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, Mountain Mystery, ch. 2. 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.