headachen.
/ˈhɛdeɪk/, U.S. /ˈhɛdˌeɪk/ 1.
a. An ache or pain within the head. Also as a mass noun.cluster-, migraine-, sick-, tension headache, etc.: see the first element.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > pain in specific parts > [noun] > in head
headwarkeOE
headacheOE
headachinga1400
sodac1540
sood1547
a sore (Sc. sair) headc1550
raging1561
cephalalgy1607
head1783
splitter1860
headachiness1862
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxix. 419 Se eadiga laurentius..þa wydewan fram hefitymum heafodece gehælde.
?a1200 ( Recipe (Harl. 6258B) in T. O. Cockayne Leechdoms, Wortcunning, & Starcraft (1864) I. 380 Wið ealda & singalum heafodece cnuca þa wurd..& gnid on þa þunwunge.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 273 Ach þach were betere to þolien galnesse brune þenne heauet eche.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. v. ii. 171 Þe same comeþ of greete fastinge and abstine[n]s, as it fariþ in ham þat fastiþ and wakeþ to moche; for as Galien seiþ, long wakinge brediþ hedeache.
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) f. 40v The cheef obtalmya is declared by greef and by hede akþe.
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 108 It is good for hedeache & for the wynde that is within the brayne.
1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 137 This lyquor is good for the headache.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. F3 Howe many head-aches a passionate life bringeth vs to.
1653 R. Baxter Christian Concord 119 I like not him that will cure the Headach by cutting the Throat.
1779 T. Forrest Voy. New Guinea 154 Having a severe head-ake.
1781 S. Johnson Pope in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VII. 223 His most frequent assailant was the headach.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. vii. 148 I was confined to my bed by a headach.
a1861 E. B. Browning Poems (1863) IV. 91 Will you vow to be safe from the headache on Tuesday?
1913 J. J. Walsh Psychotherapy 546 Nearly every druggist has his own special preparation for headache.
1974 T. Morrison Sula i. 13 Shadrack was suffering from a blinding headache.
2006 Weight Watchers Mag. June 93/1 If headaches are occurring daily you should seek medical help.
b. colloquial (originally U.S.). Something which causes trouble, anxiety, or annoyance; a vexing problem.
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the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > difficulty or perplexity > a difficult or perplexing problem
perplexity1589
perplex1652
tostication1748
aporia1893
headache1909
head-scratcher1938
migraine1942
ass-kicker1973
1909 Variety 10 Apr. 6/4 Gypsy is a headache and a nightmare to the local managers.
1921 Sat. Evening Post 23 Apr. 4/3 We were sober, and our headache was a seventy-billion-dollar debt upon mankind!
1927 Vanity Fair Nov. 67/2 Among some of Conway's more famous expressions are: ‘Bimbo’ (for a dumb girl);..‘Meet the Headache’ (the wife).
1945 Times 11 Jan. 2/4 Commander Bower continued: ‘The biggest headache of all is undoubtedly Poland.’
1968 New Scientist 25 Jan. 205/1 The single-celled organism Euglena is rather a headache for those who would like to divide living things neatly into plants and animals.
2011 M. Kaku Physics of Future vii. 310 Each point of skin on a person's face has to be described by a complex mathematical function, which is a real headache for a computer programmer.
2. Chiefly English regional. Any of several European poppies, esp. the field poppy, Papaver rhoeas. Now historical and rare.Apparently with reference to the belief that smelling poppies causes a headache (see, for example, quot. a1825).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > poppy and allied flowers > poppy
poppyeOE
wild poppya1300
red poppya1400
mecop1480
corn-rose1527
field poppy1597
redweed1609
darnel1612
cockrose?1632
canker1640
tell-love1640
rose poppy1648
erratic poppy1661
corn poppy1671
headwark1691
cop-rose1776
headachea1825
thunderbolt1847
thunder-flower1853
Iceland poppy1870
Greenland poppy1882
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Head-ache, the wild field-poppy. Any one, by smelling it for a very short time, may convince himself of the propriety of the name.
1827 J. Clare Shepherd's Cal. 47 Corn-poppies..Call'd ‘Head-achs’ from their sickly smell.
1864 Notes & Queries 10 Sept. 203/1 I said to my servant (a native of Huntingdonshire): ‘Can those be poppies?’ When he replied: ‘No, Sir, they are headaches.’
1878 Notes & Queries 27 July 79/1 Where this plant abounds, as it often does among the corn, it is common for the labourers to say, ‘What a lot of headaches there are in the wheat this year.’
1937 Amer. Botanist Apr. 60 Another poppy to be called ‘headache’ is the species known as P. dubium.
1984 C. M. Fraser in R. Miket & C. Burgess Between & Beyond Walls xxi. 360 The flower [sc. field poppy] had a generally bad reputation, as is hinted by its names of ‘lightnings’, ‘thunder-flower’, and ‘stinkin-poppy’. In Cumberland it was called ‘headache’.
Phrases
British colloquial. to be no more use than a (sick) headache and variants: to be of no use. Cf. a hole in the head at hole n. Phrases.
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1883 M. E. Kennard Right Sort I. v. 225 He's no more use than a headache, and though a fairly good fencer, will not prove very formidable.
1907 ‘G. B. Lancaster’ Tracks we Tread vii. 114 Bert Kiliat's the only one of 'em all who has been up to see it, and he's about as much good as a sick-headache.
1927 D. L. Sayers Unnatural Death i. v. 50 That woman..was no more use than a headache—to use my brother's rather vigorous expression.
1963 Guardian 3 Dec. 5/5 The car's contract of sale gives no undertaking or guarantee except the usual one—and that is as good as a sick headache.
1987 ‘Miss Read’ School at Thrush Green x. 123 About as much use as a sick headache he is.
Compounds
C1. attributive. Designating drugs and remedies used to treat headaches, as headache pill, headache tablet, etc.
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1824 Economist 31 July 176/1 (heading) Head-ache pills.
1834 New Hampsh. Ann. Reg. 13 (Advertising section) German Headache Powder.
1875 Ann. Rep. Georgia Dept. Agric. 40 Number of retail grocers found selling..headache tablets..in violation of law.
1900 Philadelphia Med. Jrnl. 7 July 5/1 A vial of ‘headache pills’ found by his side.
1919 Illustr. London News 18 Jan. 27/2 (advt.) Cure your headache or neuralgia with the new-formula ‘Daisy’. A 6d. headache cure at 2d.
1949 Kiplinger Mag. Jan. 18/1 You can expect more and better safeguards on the purity of the cough syrup, headache tablets and other remedies that go into your medicine cabinet.
1971 Times of India 26 Sept. 6/3 Caffeine..is present along with aspirin, in such headache remedies and pain-relievers as Anacin, Aspirin,..[etc.].
2008 V. DeLaune Trigger Point Therapy for Headaches & Migraines 26 Anyone who uses headache medications more than one or two days a week.
C2.
headache tree n. (a) a tropical shrub, Premna serratifolia (family Lamiaceae ( Labiatae)), widely occurring in coastal Asia and the Pacific Islands, the leaves of which are used to treat headaches (now rare); (b) the California laurel, Umbellularia californica, whose leaves when crushed have a pungent smell that supposedly causes headaches.
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1858 R. Hogg Veg. Kingdom 586 Its leaves have a strong odour, and, according to Commerson, when applied to the head, cure the headache: hence the tree has been called Headache Tree.
1951 Dict. Gardening (Royal Hort. Soc.) III. 1662/1 P. integrifolia. Headache Tree. Tree of 10 to 12 ft.
1983 Times 5 Nov. 13/6 The foliage is aromatic when crushed, and from this it [sc. U. californica] gets its common name headache tree since that is what you get when you inhale it.
2005 Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 8 July (Features) 76 The towering giant [sc. U. californica] is also known as the headache tree and heavily inhaling its aroma can cause headache, dizziness and nausea.
headache weed n. now rare a Caribbean shrub, Hedyosmum nutans (family Chloranthaceae), the leaves of which have been used to treat headaches.
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1814 J. Lunan Hortus Jamaicensis II. 353 (table) Hedyosmum nutans. Head-ache weed.
1883 Pharmaceut. Jrnl. & Trans. 6 Jan. 550/2 The plant itself is popularly known as the ‘headache weed’, and is said to be generally used by the natives for making tea and binding round their heads when in pain.
1973 A. P. Friedman & S. H. Frazier Headache Bk. i. 22 The West Indies counterpart is Hedyosum nutans, known locally as the ‘headache weed’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.OE