Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A beam projecting outward from the bow of a ship and used as a support to lift the anchor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A large timber or heavyiron beam projecting from each bow of a ship, and having sheaves in its outer end. Its use is to afford a support by which to lift the anchor after it has been raised to the water's edge by the chain. The inner end of the cat-head, which is fastened to the ship's beam or frame, is called the cat-tail.
- n. In mining, a small capstan.
- n. Nodular or ball ironstone.
- Nautical, to attach to the cat-head.
- n. An attachment to a lathe to assist in supporting long bars when they are being turned. It is a ring having set-screws that bind the work, when not circular, and hold it in a *centering-rest (which see).
Wiktionary
- n. nautical A heavy piece of timber projecting from each side of the bow of a ship for holding anchors which were fitted with a stock in position for letting go or for securing after weighing.
- n. Similar rigging on the outside of a building.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Naut.) A projecting piece of timber or iron near the bow of vessel, to which the anchor is hoisted and secured.
Etymologies
- Obsolete cat, catboat + head. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Rich land, suitable for laying down in grass, is covered with a dense growth of sassafras, tree-fern, musk, and pear tree, with large blue or swamp gums, and an underbush of what are known as cathead ferns.”
“Stalking glasses and binoculars were levelled at the unconcerned fowl, who sat by the "cathead" with perfect composure, and preened himself after his long flight.”
“Golden Eagle table syrup is made for a good cathead biscuit.”
“It is desperately needed for her cathead biscuits and chicken fried anything.”
“Her mother would cook all morning — cathead biscuits and turnip greens and flour dumplings and these little cookies that looked like striped flags — and she had this yellow apron and this hat she wore, bright green.”
“The dragon is illustrated with a cathead, serpent body, bird or retile feet, and a forked tongue.”
“His father was running the drilling rig by himself, got his arm caught up in some rope and the cathead and off came the arm.”
“Just wondering, but have you taken into consideration the intellectual property of the HappyCat cathead, that you use in your banner and in many of your images/captions?”
“Seriously, they were this spectacular mix of angel and cathead biscuits.”
“Stiff though she was, the Leopard was heeling now so that her larboard cathead plunged deep on the leeward swell.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cathead’.
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
czardas, cytometer, cytology, cytheromania, cystoscope, cystolith, cyrenaic, cypseline, cyprinoid, cyphonism, cynophobia, cytogenesis and 1298 more...
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nonhead heads
figuratively named things with head
goathead, deadhead, arrowhead, warhead, airhead, cathead, bubblehead, egghead, hogshead, railhead, Tallulah Bankhead, bridgehead and 53 more...
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Nautical Words
lubber, mizzenmast, circumnavigation, clipper, cordage, galleon, gangplank, gangway, flying bridge, following sea, schooner, amidships and 106 more...
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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About ship
tacking, astern, cruise, keel, gimbals, careen, envelop, binnacle, stemson, taffrail, corvette, slue and 7 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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What Keeps Your Ears Apart?
A sort of stuffie of words/phrases that include "head"
head of cattle, out of one's head, head of the stairs, come to a head, head of steam, head of the page, win by a head, head taller, headway, fountainhead, heads or tails, hit the nail on t... and 143 more...
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Transportation
monoplane, cabriolet, phaeton, argosy, coracle, sampan, Ventiports, wedgehead, sweepspear, fuselage, trafficator, barouche and 70 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cathead.
knitandpurl "In that case proceed to the cathead at the fore of the ship, as per tradition, and keep an eye on Mr. Tart."
A Burial at Sea by Charles Finch, p 149 Jan 4, 2012
chained_bear "...and when she was moving perhaps as fast as she had ever moved, with her lee cathead well under the foam of her bow-wave, he laid one hand on the hances, feeling the deep note of her hull as he might have felt the vibrations of his fiddle..."
—Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 352 Feb 23, 2008
reesetee A projection near the bow of a ship to which the anchor is secured. Feb 15, 2008