a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 308 (MED) In oold heed-akynge..whanne þe akynge of a mannes heed wole not go awei.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 163 Goutez & cephalez. i. heued akyngez & in strong akyngez.

1582 S. Batman Vppon Bartholome, De Proprietatibus Rerum vii. xii. f. 91/1 (heading) Of head aking.

1680 Duke of Marlborough Let. 31 Jan. in Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough (1894) I. 228 I never had so long a fit of headaching.

1712 J. Oldmixon Secret Hist. Europe I. 32 He rally 'd the Duke after they were taken on his Head-aching.

1793 J. Aikin & A. L. Barbauld Evenings at Home III. 31 My friend above will like to learn, Tho' at the cost of a head-aching.

1858 J. N. Parker Boy Missionary ii. 32 Poor, sick Davie Hall, who, with his hard study and head-achings, could seldom repeat his lessons without making more than one mistake.

1870 Our Young Folks June 377 A little world..of laughing and crying, of eating and headaching.

1914 N. Carolina Rep. 166 519 I have had headaching never before as now.

1994 T. Guinzberg Top of World, Ma! (2001) ix. 180 Perhaps this mass blushing and hiccuping and headaching is a case for medical journals.

1802 F. Burney Let. 28 Mar. in Jrnls. & Lett. (1975) V. 198 My hurries are very head-aching between times, but light hearting always.

1860 ‘G. Eliot’ in Life (1885) II. 155 Written in six weeks, even with headaching interruptions.

1872 Scribner's Monthly Jan. 342/2 A head-aching weariness as after a religious dissipation.

1901 Westm. Gaz. 2 Oct. 1/3 A man goes from place A to place B at a mile a minute and sees nothing but a headaching whirl of scenery all the way.

1981 T. C. Boyle Water Music (1983) ii. 258 There is wind, and that numbing, headaching cold that penetrates every cell and whispers death in your ears.

1994 Sci. Amer. Nov. 52/1 It was a headaching job to find an adequate method to realise the subject in the simplest possible way.

2012 L. Begley Schmidt steps Back i. 19 Another headaching puzzle.