niggerheadn.
/ˈnɪɡəhɛd/, U.S. /ˈnɪɡərˌ(h)ɛd/ Now usually offensive.
1. A kind of tobacco; = negrohead n. 3.
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the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > tobacco > [noun] > types of plug tobacco
negrohead1809
niggerhead1843
navy plug1867
navy1872
1843 J. Lumsden Amer. Memoranda (1844) 14 My next communication will probably contain full details of the methods adopted by the Virginian planters in the manufacturing of the nigger-head, ladies'-twist, [etc.].
1860 Nor' Wester (Red River Settlement, Canada) 28 June 4/5 After that I would smoke half a plug of ‘nigger-head tobacco’.
1894 Outing 24 355/1 Cigarettes..made of native grown tobacco or the rank cheap stuff called niggerhead twist.
1936 Beaver Mar. 7/2 It is probably the lineal descendant of the nigger-head tobacco used in the Indian trade years ago, and as it came in ropes it was sold by the inch.
1956 C. B. Crate & A. E. Williams We speak for Silent 3 Groceries—particularly tea and ‘nigger-head’ (a trade-tobacco for smoking and chewing)—are his more necessary ‘luxuries’.
1986 I. Wedde Symmes Hole (1988) 174 Around his neck on a lanyard he carries a canvas shot bag, and out of this he takes a short pipe and a twist of niggerhead.
2. (a) Chiefly U.S. Any of various kinds of (frequently hard or black) rock, stone, etc. (see quots.); (also) gen. a hard stone. Also niggerhead stone. (b) A projecting stump, esp. of coral.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > rock formations > [noun] > niggerhead or woolpack
negrohead1814
niggerhead1847
woolpack1848
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > [noun] > a rock
stonec825
rocher?a1400
niggerhead1847
1847 H. Howe Hist. Coll. Ohio 569 It was a saw mill, with a small pair of stones attached, made of boulders, or ‘nigger heads’, as they are commonly called.
1854 Pioneer (San Francisco) Feb. 100 After some pretty careful navigation among the..rocks and ‘nigger-heads’ that made off from the reef,..we at last effected a safe landing.
1876 J. Moresby Discov. New Guinea 3 A crowd of ‘nigger heads’, black points of coral rock, peep up in places.
1877 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 56 The bowlders, composed of quartz, ‘nigger heads’, and micaceous schists, are not large.
1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. Nigger-head, name given in New Zealand to hard blackstones found at the Blue Spur and other mining districts.
1901 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 634/1 He tightened his grip on the reins as he caught the dim outline of a treacherous nigger-head stone.
1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber i. ii. 57 Nothing was left of the big ship save some distorted fragments of iron jammed in among the nigger-heads of coral.
1916 C. Sandburg Chicago Poems 41 A boy passes and throws a niggerhead that chips off the end of the nose [of a statue].
1948 E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 4 Bears rolled ‘nigger head’ stones over and ate the grubs and field mice.
1971 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 14 Nov. 10/2 When a fir tree is cut down leaving a stump of three or four feet above ground..new wood grows to encircle the old... Woodsmen..call such stumps niggerheads.
1979 R. Miller Sugarbird Lady 64 After drifting for three days it was wrecked on a coral ‘niggerhead’ about a mile from Bernier Island.
3.
a. North American and New Zealand. In swamps, etc.: a projecting tangled mass formed from the roots and decayed remains of sedges. Also (New Zealand): any of several sedges forming such masses, esp. Carex secta.
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the world > plants > plants collectively > [noun] > mass of floating plant matter or aquatic roots
niggerhead1859
sudd1874
floatage1891
nigger's-head1921
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > sedges
starc1300
carexa1398
float-grassc1440
red sedge1480
sag1531
pry grassa1600
flea-grass1670
star-grass1782
sedge1785
sea sedge1796
sharp-pry-grass1803
blue star grass1807
whip-grass1814
flea-sedge1816
saw-grass1822
mud rush1824
tight-locka1825
nut grass1830
razor grass1834
twig-rush1836
nut rush1843
sand grass1856
mud sedge1859
niggerhead1859
nutsedge1861
pingao1867
sword-rush1875
tupak-grass1884
tussock-sedge1884
sennegrass1897
nigger's-head1921
1859 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 2) Nigger-Heads, the tussocks or knotted masses of the roots of sedges and ferns projecting above the wet surface of a swamp.
1873 Routledge's Young Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 236/2 Stepping from one flax-bush or nigger-head to the other.
1882 T. H. Potts Out in Open 76 Penetrating the dead massy root of an old plant of nigger-head (carex virgata).
1904 J. Lynch Three Years Klondike 41 We plunged into a mire of muddy water and ‘nigger-heads’. ‘Nigger-heads’ are detachments of dark moss about a foot in diameter, lifting their heads just above the water or marshy subsoil.
1910 R. W. Service Ballads of Cheechako 19 And there was the little lone moose trail... By muskeg hollow and niggerhead it wandered endlessly.
1926 Trans. & Proc. N.Z. Inst. 56 682/1 Carex virgata: Maori head, nigger-head.
1947 J. H. Brown Outdoors Unlimited 314 The ptarmigan cackled..as it flew to a nearby nigger-head.
1970 L. B. Moore & E. Edgar Flora N.Z. II. 275 C[arex] secta, Var. secta is locally known as the ‘niggerhead’.
1974 W. R. Hunt North of 53° xxvii. 228 Out of the moss and nigger heads arose an inland empire.
b. U.S. Any of various spherical spiny cacti belonging to the genera Ferocactus and Echinocactus. Also niggerhead cactus.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cactus and allies > [noun] > other cacti
hedgehog thistle1597
Opuntia1601
mescal1709
Barbados gooseberry1756
night-flowering cereus1789
vygebosch1795
night-blooming cereus1799
rhipsalis1819
pigface1830
window plant1838
old man cactus1845
cholla1846
fish-hook cactus1846
spleenwort1846
epiphyllum1858
old man's head1858
rainbow cactus1860
green snake1864
torchwood1866
queen of the night1870
vingerpol1875
nipple cactus1876
niggerhead1877
rat's tail cactus1878
rat-tail cactus1878
Christmas cactus1880
barrel cactus1881
peyote1885
mistletoe cactus1889
schlumbergera1898
pincushion1940
opuntioid1944
1877 H. C. Hodge Arizona 244 The kind [of cactus] commonly called the nigger head is round, of the size of a cabbage, and covered with large, crooked, catlike thorns.
1881 Amer. Naturalist 15 984 The ‘nigger-head’ or ‘barrel’ cactus.
1940 E. C. Jaeger Calif. Deserts (rev. ed.) 181 Closely allied to this is the Mohavean niggerhead.
1966 E. Y. Dawson Cacti of Calif. 51 (heading) Nigger Heads (Echinocactus polycephalus).
1980 Maledicta 1979 3 170 Niggerhead cactus, Bisnaga cactus.
c. U.S. The black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta, whose flower has yellow rays and a dark centre.
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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] > composite flowers > other composite flowers
ox-eyea1400
starwort?a1450
Jupiter's beard1567
goldenrod1568
achillea1597
blue camomile1597
blue daisy1597
cineraria1597
hog's bean1597
jackanapes on horseback1597
sea-starwort1597
sultan flower1629
mouse-ear1696
aster1706
Canada goldenrod1731
ageratum1737
rudbeckia1751
coreopsis1753
melampodium1754
Aaron's rod1760
zinnia1761
Michaelmas daisy1767
China aster1785
New England aster1785
catananche1798
sea-aster1812
cosmea1813
cosmos1813
gazania1813
erigeron1815
gousblom1822
Christmas daisy1829
rhodanthe1834
tassel-flower1836
ligularia1839
old maid1839
mountain daisy1848
purple coneflower1848
acroclinium1852
sea ox-eye1856
thimble-weed1860
helipterum1862
treasure-flower1866
Swan River daisy1873
blanket flower1879
cone-flower1879
blue marguerite1882
Solidago1883
yellow-top1887
Gaillardia1888
gerbera1889
youth and old age1889
pussytoes1892
niggerhead1893
Transvaal daisy1899
Barberton daisy1906
onion grass1909
ursinia1928
Cupid's dart1930
Livingstone daisy1932
1893 S. F. Price Flora of Warren County, Kentucky 15 Rudbeckia..fulgida... Cone flower. ‘Nigger-head’.
1931 W. N. Clute Common Names Plants 45 A number of composites with yellow rays and dark centers are commonly known as niggerheads, though the more polite term is black-eyed Susan.
1966 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1964 xlii. 21 Niggerhead... The black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta).
d. Australian. Any of several grasses of the genus Enneapogon, esp. E. nigricans, having dark seed heads.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > non-British grasses > [noun] > Australian grasses
silver grass1600
buffalo grass1784
cane grass1827
porcupine grass1842
tussock-grass1842
spinifex1846
spear-grass1847
rice grass1848
sugar-grass1862
blue star grass1876
wiregrass1883
windmill-grass1889
danthonia1918
Wimmera rye-grass1920
niggerhead1923
1923 Census Plants Victoria (Field Naturalists' Club Victoria) 9 Pappophorum nigricans..Niggerheads.
1955 Lake Eyre, S.A. (Royal Geogr. Soc. Australasia) 71 Not possible to identify, but this may be of the Enneapogon sp. (Nigger heads).
1975 E. R. Rotherham et al. Flowers & Plants New S. Wales & S. Queensland 180 In the winter..the flexible silky heads of the Spear Grass bend to the inland wind whilst in summer they are replaced by the stiffer black-green Nigger-Heads (Enneapogon nigricans).
4. U.S. slang (derogatory). Frequently in form Niggerhead. An advocate of political rights for black people. Now historical.
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1863 N.Y. Herald 6 Mar. Hitherto the niggerheads have charged that our want of success arose, not from their diabolical intrigues, but from our neglect to employ all the means we had.
1868 N.Y. Herald 6 July 3/2 The d——d radical party, with its niggerhead Congress.
1946 W. S. Knickerbocker 20th Cent. Eng. 149 Niggerhead... After the Civil War it was used for a person in favor of full political equality for Negroes.
5. A type of fabric (see quot. 1950).
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from mixed fibres > [noun] > cotton and wool
moreena1691
satinette1723
jeanette1785
gambroon1812
cassinette1817
merino1818
lustre1831
Russell cord1834
domett1835
mousseline de laine1835
moreen-damask1837
delaine1840
Orleans1844
kerseynette1846
balzarine1849
muslin-de-laine1856
Verona serge1858
president1860
Persian cord1873
moreen silk1889
niggerhead1892
Viyella1894
Verona1904
Panama1907
Parisian cloth1960
1892–3 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall–Winter 10/2 In the plain cloth jackets the materials are beavers, niggerheads, serges and worsted.
1950 ‘Mercury’ Dict. Textile Terms 366/1 Niggerhead Curl, a fancy dress cloth made from spiral yarn warp and mixture weft (cotton and wool).
6. U.S. Any of various freshwater clams.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Gastropoda > [noun] > superorder Branchifera > order Prosobranchiata > section Siphonostomata > family Cypraeidae > member of (cowrie)
Venus-shell1589
Venus-winkle1601
wart-gowry?1711
nipple cowry1713
smallpox1759
cowrie1777
serpent's skull1795
Arabian cowrie1804
mouse1815
sea-louse1815
serpent's head1815
wasp1815
niggerhead1895
1895 F. A. Steel Red Rowans x Do you ever find niggerheads about here now?
1908 G. F. Kunz & C. H. Stevenson Bk. of Pearl 72 The niggerhead (Quadrula ebena) is the most numerous in the Mississippi, and it is extensively used in button manufacture.
1923 National Geographic Mag. Apr. 449/2 For button-making, the most desirable shells are those known as ‘nigger heads’ and muckets.
1966 Wisconsin Conservation Bull. 31 iii. 26 Hundreds of clam boats dragged the bottom..bringing up mostly the valuable and abundant ‘niggerhead’, as well as many other species.
7. Nautical. A bollard or winch-head.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > other equipment of vessel > [noun] > cleat or bollard
kevelc1330
cleat1377
bollard1844
belaying-cleat1862
thumb-cleat1867
stag-horn1923
niggerhead1927
1927 in G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms (1954) 119/1 Nigger heads, a name for bollards, and sometimes applied to winch heads.
1987 W. Hagelund Whalers no More ii. 36 We were able to pass a long heavy wire around its tail, and this, when led to a nigger head, pulled a heavy chain around after it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1843