cat-head, n.
(ˈkæthɛd)
Also 7 cat's-head.
1. Naut. A beam projecting almost horizontally at each side of the bows of a ship, for raising the anchor from the surface of the water to the deck without touching the bows, and for carrying the anchor on its stock-end when suspended outside the ship's side; it is furnished with sheaves at the outer end, and the inner end, which is called the cat's-tail, fays down upon the cat-beam.
The anchor is catted or raised to the cat-head by means of the cat-tackle or cat-purchase, which consists of the cat-block, cat-fall, and the sheaves in the cat-head; the cat-block is furnished with a strong hook, the cat-hook, which is hooked to the ring of the anchor by means of the cat-rope, or cat-back-rope; when raised, the anchor is fastened by its ring to the cat-head with the cat-head-stopper or cat-stopper. See also cat n. 7 and 18.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 12 The Cat, Cats head and Cats holes. 1679 Exec. Bury 3 The Prisoner was..shooting at the Cat-head of his own ship as a mark. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) The cat-head serves to suspend the anchor clear of the bow. 1805 in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. 156 note, She ceased firing and waved a Union Jack at her cat-head. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xv. 40 The anchor came to the cat-head pretty slowly. 1869 E. J. Reed Ship Build. xv. 292 In order to reduce both the weight and the cost of the catheads..box catheads have been introduced instead of solid forgings. |
2. dial. A nodule of ironstone, containing fossil remains.
| 1670 W. Simpson Hydrol. Ess. 63 Usually called by them Doggers, or Catsheads. 1719 Strachey in Phil. Trans. XXX. 970 Certain Lumps of Stone..like a Caput mortuum not inflammable, called Cats-head. 1728 Woodward Fossils (J.) The nodules with leaves in them, called catheads, seem to consist of a sort of iron stone. |
3. Mining. a. A small capstan (Simmonds Dict. Trade 1858). b. A broad-bully hammer (Raymond Mining Gloss.).
c. ‘An attachment to a lathe to assist in supporting long bars when they are being turned’ (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909).
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 141/2 Cathead or spider, a lathe accessory consisting of a turned sleeve. |
4. attrib., as cat-head stopper (see small-type note at sense 1 above).
| 1829 Patents in Ann. Reg. 551/2 Improvements in the construction of cat-head stoppers. 1883 Man. Seamanship for Boys' Training Ships 10 For lifting the anchor from the water's edge to the cat head in order to pass the cat head stopper. |
Hence cat-head v., to cat the anchor.
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxv, Everything was sheeted home and hoisted up, the anchor tripped and cat-headed. 1874 Chamb. Jrnl. 10 Oct. 651/1 (Hoppe) Let us cat-head our anchor. |