> as lemmas

OE tr. Medicina de Quadrupedibus (Vitell.) ii. 238 Genim þone camb þe heo ana hyre heafod [?a1200 Harl. 6258B heafad, L. capillos] mid cemde.

OE Monasteriales Indicia (1996) xcvi. 40 Ðonne þu þe..biddan wille þæt þu þin heafod þwean mote, þonne stric þu mid bradre hande on þin feax, swilce þu hit þwea.

a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 41 Summe bi þa fet..summe bi þe hefede [L. capillis].

?c1225 Ancrene Riwle (Cleo.: Scribe B) (1972) 310 (note) Hwa se wule ieveset, ah ha mot te oftere weschen & kemben hire heauet.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 176 Ynoȝ þer is of ydelnesse aboute hire heaued, to kembe, to wesse, ine trossinge, an ine sseweres pouringe.

c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 1999 (MED) His heued was crul and ȝeluȝ þe her.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 662/1 I holde best to polle my heed.

1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Sig. Gg2/2 Emissi crines,..heare cast abrode as a woman loosinge hir head.

1587 J. Hooker tr. Giraldus Cambrensis Vaticinall Hist. Conquest Ireland ii. xxxviii. 55/1 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II This head of haire they call a glibe.

1678 T. Duffett Psyche Debauch'd ii. iii. 28 Let him have shirt full clean, Let head be comb'd, and wash'd his face.

1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 1 Apr. (1965) I. 327 I never saw in my Life so many fine heads of hair.

1775 R. B. Sheridan Rivals i. i. 4 He'll never forsake his bob, tho' all the college should appear with their own heads!

1809 W. Nicholson Brit. Encycl. V. at Peruke It appears that this term was originally applied to describe a fine natural head of long hair.

1832 J. Morier Zohrab III. iii. 73 A barber, whose good offices he had secured, to trim his head, beard, mustaches, and curls.

1882 Day of Rest 206/1 [His] frizzly, unkempt head of hair stood out..round his head like a halo.

1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary ii. 18 She saw him..: a thin man in shapeless clothes; a head of thinning and ill-kempt hair.

1977 ‘J. le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy xiii. 292 He looked into the ceiling mirror and caught the glitter of an electric-blue suit and a full head of black hair well greased.

2007 Nylon Feb. 131/1 A giant, wilting hat atop a head of shiny curls.