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.
1735. Granville (quoted in Johnson’s Dict., s.v. Head). In jingling
rimes well fortified and strong, He fights intrenched 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, Journey to London, iv. He had the insolence to
intrude into my own dressing room here, with a story without a 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. Mrs. H. 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, 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.’
Head-beetler, subs. (workmen’s).—1. A bully; and (2) a foreman; a
ganger (q.v.).
1886. Chambers’ Journal, 18 Sept., p. 599. Head-beetler is used (in
Ulster) in the same vulgar sense as ‘Head-cook and bottle-washer’
in some localities. The ‘beetle’ was a machine for producing
figured fabrics by the pressure of a roller, and head-beetler
probably means the chief director of this class of work.
Head-bloke. See Head-screw.
Head-bully (or -cully).—See quots.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Head bully of the pass or
passage bank. The Top Tilter of the Gang, throughout the whole
Army, who Demands and receives Contribution from all the Pass Banks
in the Army.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Head-cook and bottle-washer, subs. phr. (common).—1. A general servant;
in contempt.