ˈheadsman
[f. head's, genitive of head n.1 + man: cf. draughtsman.]
1. A chief, leader, head man. Now rare.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 281 Thei..Hyngede of þeire heddysmene by hundrethes at ones. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 478 Mony othir noblis and heidismen. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. iii. 1864 The worshipfull headsmen of the towne. 1890 Boldrewood Miner's Right xix. 183 One boss or headsman. |
2. One who beheads; an executioner.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 342 Come headesman, off with his head. 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis i. vi. 14 Brought upon the scaffold to offer her tender necke to the Headsmans axe. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles v. xxvi, The griesly headsman's by his side. |
3. The man in command of a whaling boat, who steers till the whale is struck, and then moves to the head of the boat.
| 1839 T. Beale Sperm Whale xiii. 157 The crew of the boat..consists of the headsman, boatsteerer and four hands..The headsman..has the command of the boat. Ibid. 164 The line is running through the groove at the head of the boat..the headsman, cool and collected, pours water upon it as it passes. 1854 Chamb. Jrnl. I. 53 We gain on one fine fellow, which our headsman is steering for. |
4. Mining. A labourer in a colliery who pushes coal from the workings to the tramway; a ‘putter’.
| 1841 Collieries & Coal Trade (ed. 2) 227 These (who push a tram singly) are called hewing putters or headsmen: the others are two to a tram, and are called headsmen and foals. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 30 This little boy is called a foal. He sometimes assists the headsman by pushing the tub beside him. |