headed, a. and pa. pple.
(ˈhɛdɪd)
[f. head n.1 and v. + -ed.]
1. Having a head (of a specified kind). b. Of a stag: Having a ‘head’ of horns.
| c 1374 [See head v. 3.] 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 11 Þe seson was paste For hertis y-heedid so hy and so noble. 1579–80 North Plutarch 133 (R.) Schinocephalos, as much as to say, headed like an onion. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 249 Setting their horses in a double front, so as they appeared headed both wayes. 1670 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. late Voy. i. (1694) 59 They are..headed and beaked like a Crow. 1876 J. Grant One of the 600 ix. 75 Headed like a snake. |
c. Frequent in parasynthetic combinations, as bare-headed, clear-headed, light-headed, many-headed, etc., q.v. under the first element.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 645 He..hire forsok for terme of al his lyf Noght but for open-heueded he hir say Lokynge out at his dore vpon a day. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 15 They are all naked..and go beare headed. 1863 E. V. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 16 Clearest headed thinkers. |
2. Of things: Furnished with a head; tipped, as an arrow, etc. (Often as pple., const. with.)
| c 1450 Henryson Test. Cress. 168 Flanis fedderit with yse, and heidit with hail-stanis. c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 853 With speris hedyt weill. 1624 T. Scott Vox Dei To Rdr. 5 All the arrowes they shoote..are both headed and feathered. 1670 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 98 A Cane..headed with Silver. 1830 Tennyson Poet iii, The viewless arrows of his thoughts were headed And wing'd with flame. |
3. Of a plant: Having a head, grown to a head.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 60 The headed, or sette Leeke. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 51 Good chinnell-oates, that are large and well headed. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Brassica, The headed cabbage. 1822 J. Flint Lett. Amer. 227 Oats, at that time, were headed out and luxuriant. |
4. That has come to a head or matured, as a boil.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 67 All th' imbossed sores, and headed euils. |
† 5. Of flints: = Faced: see face v. 14.
| 1671 Evelyn Diary 17 Oct., Buildings of flints so exquisitely headed and squared. 1717 Tabor in Phil. Trans. XXX. 554 A very firm..Wall, made of Roman Brick, squar'd Stone and headed Flint. Ibid., Pitch'd with small Flint and Stones, Pointed at their lower ends, and Headed at their upper ends. |
6. Furnished with a heading, written or printed. (Usually as pple., followed by with, or simply by the word or words which constitute the heading.)
| 1838 Gladstone State in Rel. Ch. vii. §30 (L.) Prayers..headed with the promise that such and such religious advantages shall be given to all who devoutly recite them. 1838 De Morgan Ess. Probab. 69 A column headed t. 1884 L'pool Mercury 18 Feb. 5/6 The following five-lined whip, headed ‘Most important’, has been issued to members of the Opposition. 1894 Daily News 9 Apr. 2/7 A letter on the headed notepaper of a firm in New Bond-street. |