head-countern.
/ˈhɛdkaʊntə/, U.S. /ˈhɛdˌkaʊn(t)ər/ chiefly U.S.
A person who takes a headcount; spec. (a) a census taker; (b) U.S. Politics a person who assesses the number of politicians likely to vote a certain way on a particular issue.
ΚΠ
1938 Sci. News Let. 25 June 406/1 Turkey took no complete census in the days of the Sultans, because the Mohammedans would have fought any intrusion of head-counters in to the harems.
1962 Jrnl. Brit. Stud. 1 153 If he refers to certain Namierites as ‘atomizers’ and ‘head counters’, they should accept the criticism with good grace for there is some truth in it.
1970 N.Y. Times 27 Jan. 42 ‘I am afraid’, said a Democratic head-counter recently, ‘that we have enough votes to override.’
1985 Daily News Record (U.S.) (Nexis) 19 Sept. 2 Senate political head counters believe ‘about 66 senators’ are committed to support the bill.
1997 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) (Electronic ed.) 20 July 5 a No matter how hard the head-counters try, they miss big chunks of the U.S. population.
2010 N.Y. Daily News 21 Mar. 5 Suspicion grows that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a meticulous and clear-eyed headcounter, has already corralled the necessary votes to move Obama off the precipice.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1938