▪ I. heading, vbl. n.
(ˈhɛdɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
I. The action of head v., in various senses.
1. The cutting off or removal of the head: a. of persons: beheading, decapitation. arch.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22860 Men..wit hefding draght, or hanging spilt. 1494 Fabyan Chron. ii. xxxvii. 27 By heddyng, fleyng, brennynge, & other cruel execucions. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. v. 66 To be periured was headyng. 1692 Wagstaffe Vind. Carol. xv. 102 Their frequent Headings and Gibbettings. 1893 Athenæum 9 Sept. 346/1 Plots and rumours of plots, with their consequences of headings and hangings. |
b. of trees, etc.
| 1552 Huloet, Headynge, or choppynge, or clyppynge of any thynge, truncatio. 1707 Mortimer Husb. i. (1708) 335 As 'tis a large tree you must avoid heading of them if you can. 1843 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IV. ii. 396 Heading-down, that is, removing all the branches to within a foot or two of the main forks or the stem of the tree. 1886 G. Nicholson Dict. Gard. s.v., Heading-down will be requisite with fruit-trees which it is intended to graft. |
2. The action of furnishing or fitting with a head.
| 1390–1 in Exped. Earl Derby (Camden) 22 Pro hedynge iiij doliorum pro floure imponendo. 1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 193 For hopyng and hedyng and settyng in of hedys of pypys and barells. 1599 Minsheu, Enastadura, heading with iron. |
3. The process of forming a head or coming to a head;
fig. culmination. Also
heading-up. (See
head n.1 9 a, 17, 31;
head v. 6, 8.)
| 1819 Rees Cycl. s.v. Brassica, The true purple kind is superior both in size and perfectness of heading. 1857 P. Freeman Princ. Div. Serv. II. 98 It was..the heading-up and the final effort of a form of thought, which..had for near a century past been gathering momentum. 1873 F. Robertson Engin. Notes 12 The heading up of the water. |
4. a. A facing or advancing in a particular direction; the doubling of a hare, etc. (
= head n.1 28).
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 107 Remembring and preventing..the subtile turnings and headings of the hart. Ibid. 120 The nature of this hare is sometimes to leap and make headings, sometimes to tread softly. 1860 Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 98 With your present heading you will run aground. |
b. N.Z. Of a farm dog: see
quot. 1933. Hence
heading dog.
Cf. head v. 13 c.
| 1913 A. I. Carr Country Work & Life N.Z. xix. 33 A new hand, if he intends to qualify for the work [as shepherd] is wise in investing in a good huntaway or a heading dog. 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 28 Oct. 15/7 A dog goes round to the far side of a mob of sheep and stops them. This is called heading. Hence heading dog, one whose work this is. 1947 P. Newton Wayleggo (1949) 13 The heading dog is bred to run out silently, cast round sheep, and bring them back to his master. 1968 N.Z. News 28 Aug. 16/1 The heading dog brings sheep up to the shepherd and holds them at one spot. 1972 P. Newton Sheep Thief v. 40 He told her of his successes on the dog trial grounds. His old huntaway, Sam, was his particular pride, and he also had high hopes for his little heading dog, Smoke. |
c. Aeronaut. (See
quot. 1951.)
| 1935 T. C. Lyon Pract. Air Navigation 29 Compass heading, the true course plus or minus variation and deviation, and including allowance for wind. 1951 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) iii. 7 Heading, the direction of the longitudinal axis of an aircraft defined by the angle it makes with a specified meridian. 1968 New Scientist 18 Apr. 133/1 The aircraft's heading is defined by the localizer's two overlapping beams. |
5. Assoc. Football. The action of striking or driving the ball with the head.
| 1887 Sporting Life 28 Mar. 4/5 Their kicking and heading being perfection. 1887 M. Shearman Athletics & Footb. (Badm. Libr.) 347 Heading is often quicker than ‘footing’ when the ball is high in the air. |
II. Concrete senses.
6. a. A distinct or separable part forming the head, top, or front of a thing;
b. in
Needlework;
c. in
Mining: see
quots.| 1676 Moxon Print Lett. 40 The Heading is made like the Heading of k. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 81 The east window has [a] low four-centred arched heading. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Heading..(Fireworks), the device of a signal-rocket, such as a star-heading, a bounce-heading. |
| b. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Heading..(Sewing), the extension of a line of ruffling above the line of stitch. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, Heading, a term used sometimes instead of Footing, to distinguish the edge of the lace that is upon the side of the lace sewn to the dress from the edge that is left free. 1886 Queen 22 Jan. 114 Two curtains..with headings made in soft silk. |
| c. 1831 Raymond Mining Gloss., Headings, in ore⁓dressing, the heavier portions collecting at the upper end of a buddle or sluice, as opposed to the tailings, which escape at the other end, and the middlings, which receive further treatment. |
d. The highest part; that which is at the top.
| 1846 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VII. i. 56 The middle or heading of the stetch would grow little. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Heading,..the top portion above the tub sides of the load carried. |
7. Material for the heads of casks.
| 1682 T. A. Carolina 6 With this [cedar] they make Heading for their Cask. 1752 J. MacSparran Amer. Dissected (1753) 26 Barrel and Hogshead Staves and Heading. 1772 Ann. Reg. 230/2 Bounties..to be allowed upon the importation of white oak staves and heading. 1774 J. Q. Adams Diary 17 Aug. Wks. 1850 II. 344 They had vast forests, and could make their own heading, staves, and hoops. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Heading, pieces of wood suited for closing sugar hogsheads, and other casks. |
8. a. The title or inscription at the head of a page, chapter, or other division of a book, manuscript, etc.;
cf. head n.1 13.
dead heading (
Printing), the numbers indicating the pagination;
live heading, the running title at the top of the page (Tolhausen
Technol. Dict. 1874).
| 1849 Freese Comm. Class-bk. 53 The Heading..should be written the whole width of the paper on which the account is to be made out. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1870) I. App. 667 This is the date given in the heading of one of the manuscripts. 1885 Sir R. Baggallay in Law Times Rep. LII. 672/1 A group of sections, the heading of which is ‘Official Receivers and Staff of Board of Trade’. |
b. fig. A division, section of a subject of discourse, etc.;
cf. head n.1 27.
| 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. v. (1873) 122 The principle discussed under the last heading may be applied to our present subject. 1862 Trollope Orley F. xxxii, The woman Bolster is in the next room, And I..will take down the headings of what evidence she can give. |
9. A fancy striped border at the end of a piece of calico, or the like.
† 10. ? A bank or dam:
cf. head n.1 17.
Obs.| 1662 Dugdale Hist. Imbanking xlv. 234/1 The Hevedinges of Spalding, on Westone Side, had used and ought to be whole, but then were cut through in divers places. 1793 Southburn Inclos. Act 14 Cuts, drains..headings, trays. 1832 Holderness Drainage Act 13 Dams, mounds, headings, cloughs. |
11. A horizontal passage driven through in preparation for a tunnel, for working a mine, or for draining, ventilating, or other purpose; a drift or drift-way; also, the end of a drift or gallery.
| 1819 Rees Cycl., Headings are small soughs or tunnels driven underground to collect and draw off the springs of water from any tunnel, deep cutting, or other large work. 1838 F. W. Simms Pub. Wks. Gt. Brit. 32 The heading must be carried through before any part of the main tunnel is commenced. 1878 F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 422 The bottom of the landslip..was drained by underground headings of great depth. |
12. A top layer or covering: in various technical applications.
| 1777 Macbride in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 115 Ooze is then poured on, to fill up interstices; and the whole crowned with a sprinkling of bark, which the tanners call a heading. 1846 Worcester, Heading..foam on liquor. 1869 R. B. Smyth Goldf. Victoria Gloss., Headings, coarse gravel or drift overlying the washdirt. 1873 Q. Rev. CXXXV. 143 The lignite is covered by a thick heading of sand [etc.]. |
13. A mixture for producing a ‘head’ on beer, etc.
| 1861 Wynter Soc. Bees 85 The heading..is a mixture of half alum and half copperas ground to a fine powder. |
14. Homespun cloth.
Southern U.S.| 1878 N. H. Bishop Voy. Paper Canoe 236 A roll of home⁓spun for a pillow, which the women called ‘heading’. |
III. 15. attrib. and
Comb. a. From sense 1 a: used for beheading, as
heading axe,
heading block,
heading hill,
heading man,
† heading stead,
heading sword.
b. from sense 8, as
heading-line.
c. In the names of tools used in various trades for making or manipulating the ‘head’ of an article, as
heading chipper,
heading chisel,
heading circler,
heading hammer,
heading jointer,
heading planer,
heading saw,
heading tool, etc.
d. heading-course, a course of bricks lying transversely or consisting of headers;
heading-joint (see
quot.);
† heading-stone, a faced or pitched stone;
cf. headed 5. Also
heading-knife, etc.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. xiv. 46 So bryme and felloun with the *heding ax. 1679 in Daily News 1 Jan. (1894) 5/6 [A] ‘heading axe’ [does not appear in the Tower Inventories before the year 1679.] |
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) D iij, There shoulde be no nede of..*headdyng blockes for traitours. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Heading-chisel, a chisel for cutting down the head of a mortise, a mortise-chisel. |
| Ibid., *Heading-circler (Coopering), a machine for cutting down and dressing the pieces to form the head of a cask. |
| 1659 Willsford Scales Comm., Arch. 2 The length of 2 bricks or 18 inches for the *heading course. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 116 The Parapets..must rest on a heading Course of cut Stone. |
| 1874 Tolhausen Technol. Dict., *Heading-hammer (needlemaking). |
| a 1800 Young Waters xiv, They hae taen to the *heiding-hill His lady fair to see. |
| 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., *Heading Joint (Carpent.), the joint of two or more boards at right angles to the fibres. |
| 1874 Tolhausen Technol. Dict. s.v., *Heading-line, head-margin, running title. |
| 1890 Child Ballads vii. ccviii. 125/2 He orders the *heading⁓man to make haste. |
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Cristofore 594 Christofore furth þan haf þai lede, Furth one to þe *heding stade. |
| 1766 Entick London IV. 424 St. James's-square..is neatly paved with *heading-stone all over. |
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. xiv. 30 *Heding swerd, baith felloun, scherp and gair. 1564–5 Burgh Rec. Edin. (Rec. Soc.) 3 Feb. (Jam. Suppl.), His tua handit sword to be vsit for ane heiding⁓sword. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. i. 120 Make sharp thy fearful heading sword. |
| 1852 Appleton Dict. Mech. I. 695 The *heading tools..are made of all sizes and varieties of forms. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Heading-tool (Forging), a tool used in swaging heads on stems of bolts. |
▪ II. heading, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That heads or forms a head.
| 1819 Rees Cycl. s.v. Brassica, Of the..common heading cabbage, the varieties are numerous. 1826 Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1831) 515 The sheaves are set on end in pairs..and covered..by what are called heading sheaves. |