Whiteheadn.2
/ˈwʌɪthɛd/, U.S. /ˈ(h)waɪtˌhɛd/, /ˈ(h)waɪt(h)ɛd/ Now historical.
More fully Whitehead torpedo. A kind of self-propelled torpedo, shaped somewhat like a fish, with vertical and lateral fins, and powered by compressed air. Also called fish-torpedo.Whitehead's torpedo was the first to be self-propelled and to be launched from a ship. Later innovations were a self-regulating device that kept it at a predetermined depth, and gyroscopic stabilization to maintain its direction.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > naval weapons and equipment > [noun] > torpedo
torpedo1776
Whitehead1872
fish-torpedo1878
mouldy1916
fish1925
torp1929
pickle1931
kipper1953
1871 Rep. Fabrication of Iron for Defensive Purposes (U.S. Army: Corps Engineers) 83 While in Trieste our attention was called to the Luppis-Whitehead torpedo. This is said to be an invention of Luppis, but perfected through the coöperation of Mr. Whitehead.]
1872 Naval Sci. 1 25 The Whitehead torpedo is so new, and as yet so little known, that its influence on tactics is quite in the haze.
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 13 Nov. 5/2 A blow with even an ordinary Whitehead, let alone the improved Whitehead of the German navy, would practically rip the bottom out of the strongest ship afloat.
1898 R. Kipling Fleet in Being v. 54 Fancy a Whitehead smitten on the nose by one little shell. You'd go up.
1966 Mariner's Mirror 52 388 She could be armed with a spar torpedo and two Whiteheads carried in side dropping gear.
2002 Mariner's Mirror 88 448 The Whitehead torpedo was an entirely self-contained and self-propelled weapon system.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
whiteheadadj.n.1
/ˈwʌɪtˌhɛd/, U.S. /ˈ(h)waɪtˌhɛd/ A. adj.
= white-headed adj.
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the world > life > the body > hair > colour of hair > [adjective] > light hair > having
white-headed1571
whitehead1577
fair-haired1598
silver-haired1678
light-haired?1746
blonde-locked1837
tow-headed1850
tow-haired1887
peroxide1899
blondie1905
straw-blond1928
platinum blonde1932
the world > life > the body > hair > colour of hair > [adjective] > white > having
whiteOE
white-haired?a1425
white-headed1571
whitehead1577
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > wave > types of waves > [adjective] > white-crested
white-clawed1743
white-headed1780
white-capped1841
whitehead1870
1577 E. Woolton Castell of Christians sig. Eviii Graue and whyteheadde Fathers.
?1614 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses xii. 185 My friends..plied Their polisht oares; and did in curls diuide The white-head waters.
1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise: Pt. III 156 The hurrying crowd Of white-head waves.
1975 C. Calasibetta Fairchild's Dict. Fashion 323/1 Glove leather made from skins of blackhead or whitehead sheep.
B. n.1† 1. Perhaps: a white headdress. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > other
dorlot1340
horn1340
vitremytec1386
templesc1430
bycocket1464
burlet1490
knapscall1498
shapion1504
shaffron1511
paste1527
attire1530
faille1530
muzzle1542
corneta1547
abacot1548
wase1548
wrapper1548
tiring1552
basket1555
bilimenta1556
Paris head1561
shadow1578
head-roll1583
mitre1585
whitehead1588
crispa1592
ship-tire1602
oreillet1603
scoffion1604
coif1617
aigrette1631
egreta1645
drail1647
topknotc1686
slop1688
Burgundy1701
bandore1708
fly-cap1753
capriole1756
lappet-head1761
fly1773
turban1776
pouf1788
knapscapa1802
chip1804
toque1817
bonnet1837
casquette1840
war bonnet1845
taj1851
pugree1859
kennel1896
roach1910
Deely bobber1982
1588 Charges of Funeral in A. J. Crosby & J. Bruce Accts. & Papers Mary Queen of Scots (1867) 31 Whiteheades for gentlewoemen attendaunte uppon the mourners.
2. † a. A newly hatched grey partridge ( Perdix perdix). Obsolete. rare.
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the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [noun] > head > bird having particular colour
blackhead1658
black cap1668
whitecap1668
whitehead1686
redhead1709
1686 R. Blome Gentlemans Recreation ii. xi. 37/1 Partridges; the first, when newly hatched, are called White-heads.
b. Originally New Zealand. A small songbird endemic to the North Island of New Zealand, Mohoua albicilla (family Mohouidae), which is pale brown with a whitish head and underparts; also called bush canary.Formerly regarded as a subspecies of the yellowhead, M. ochrocephala.
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1871 F. W. Hutton Catal. Birds N.Z. 9 Orthonyx albicilla... White-head. Popokatea.
1886 Auckland (N.Z.) Star 21 Sept. 4 The whitehead he had found in the Tokatea and Rimutaka Ranges; also at the Mauku and Great Barrier Island.
1930 Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 6 Dec. 17 The bush canary, or whitehead, a bird which seems to enjoy a fairly wide range in the North Island, was heard on many occasions.
1974 N.Z. Jrnl. Zool. 1 192 Whiteheads and grey warblers..tended to subdivide the branches horizontally, with..the heavier whiteheads feeding on the stouter branches.
2002 T. H. Worthy & R. N. Holdaway Lost World Moa xi. 429 Yellowheads and whiteheads prefer high forest.., and brown creepers can also be found in lower scrub.
3. Originally Australian and New Zealand.
a. A head of wheat or other cereal that contains few or no grains and is prematurely bleached and withered, typically as a result of disease, environmental factors, or pest infestation; a plant having such a head.
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1833 Sydney Monitor 20 Apr. 3/3 The machine will..clean 100 bushels of wheat a day, dividing the whiteheads and chaff, and leaving the grain free from dirt.
1873 Nelson (N.Z.) Examiner 22 Feb. 3/6 Not a single ear could be found that was not threshed..and white heads were absent.
1915 Jrnl. Dept. Agric. S. Austral. 18 1075 Wheat may, however, die out in patches or as whiteheads from quite a variety of causes.
1983 Internat. Rice Res. Newslet. Oct. 17/3 Deadhearts were caused by Diopsis spp. and whiteheads by Sesamia calamistis.
2008 T. D. Murray & D. W. Parry Dis. Small Grain Cereal Crops 91/2 Severe root rot deprives the plant of water and nutrients, resulting in premature ripening and whiteheads.
b. In plural. A disease causing the formation of whiteheads (sense B. 3a) in a cereal crop; spec. = take-all n. Now rare.
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the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > type of disease > fungal > associated with crop or food plants > various diseases
red rot1798
bunt1800
heart rot1808
yellow rust1808
pepperbrand1842
black spot1847
take-all1865
anthracnose1877
coffee-leaf disease1877
white rot1879
bladder-brand1883
basal rot1896
whitehead1898
black root rot1901
chancre1903
black pod1904
bud-rot1906
frog-eye1906
wildfire1918
pasmo1926
blind-seed disease1939
sharp eyespot1943
1898 Agric. Gaz. New S. Wales 8 220 A disease often spoken of as ‘white-heads,’ characterised by the bleached appearance of the full grown wheat plants, and by the absence of grain from the heads.
1919 Grain Dealers Jrnl. 25 May 891/1 A new wheat disease, supposed to be identical with 'take-all' or 'white-heads' which has wrought such havoc in Australia, has been discovered in Madison County, Ill.
1944 S. D. Garrett Root Dis. Fungi 2 McAlpine..declared that the two diseases familiar to Australian farmers as ‘take-all’ and ‘whiteheads’ were in reality different phases of the same disease, due to infection by Ophiobolus graminis.
4. Parthenium weed, Parthenium hysterophorus, which has white flowers.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Compositae (composite plants) > [noun] > feverfew
feverfewOE
adrelwurta1300
featherfew?a1300
whitewort?c1400
matricary1523
St. Peter's wort1526
parthenium1548
matricaria1664
wild wormwood1696
mugworta1726
whitehead1864
golden feather1867
feather-bow1880
flirt-wort1882
1864 A. H. R. Grisebach Flora Brit. W. Indian Islands 788/2 List of Colonial names... White-head: Parthenium Hysterophorus.
1894 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 7 Apr. 762/2 An immediate..cure was effected by an infusion of parthenium hysterophorus, locally known as ‘whitehead’.
1994 R. Labrada et al. Weed Managem. Developing Countries 113 Parthenium weed.., also known as white top, whitehead, congress grass or carrot grass, is an erect annual herb.
5. A small white papule or pustule of the skin; spec. a closed comedo, commonly occurring in acne vulgaris, consisting of a hair follicle filled with sebum and keratin and closed at the surface. Cf. blackhead n.2 2.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > eruption > [noun] > comedo
comedo1730
worm1730
blackhead1837
whitehead1886
waster1899
1886 A. B. Kingsford Health, Beauty &Toilet v. 37 The sebaceous glands..swell here and there, and constitute little black or white heads under the cuticle.
1940 S. W. Becker & M. E. Obermayer Mod. Dermatol. & Syphilol. xxix. 521 Milium or ‘white head’ is the name for a tiny, pearly-white globular lesion..with a shiny, translucent surface.
1978 L. Parsons & S. C. Sommers Gynecol. (ed. 2) xx. 308/1 Closed comedones (‘whiteheads’) are the precursors of the inflammatory papules and pustules that commonly occur.
1982 P. M. Margolin Last Innocent Man i. vii. 70 The boy's right hand raised slowly and began to pick at a whitehead on his cheek.
2005 Bliss July 87/1 Only whiteheads can be popped without the risk of scarring.
6. South African. A condition in which the scalp is covered with pustules and thick white crusts, thought to be a manifestation of congenital syphilis or a fungal infection resembling favus. Now rare.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > skin disorders > [noun] > ring-worm or favus
achorOE
scalled-head1340
motha1398
tinea1398
serpigoc1400
ringworma1425
scald1561
tetterworm1622
surpeguea1632
serpentine1639
scald head1673
favus1706
honeycomb scall1817
dhobie itch1890
trichophytosis1890
scaly ringworm1898
whitehead1911
athlete's foot1928
1911 Trans. S. Afr. Med. Congr.: 12th Meeting 165 This is the so-called ‘white head’, so often seen in Bechuanaland, It is a pustular syphilide affecting the scalp. The pustules..tend to coalesce, forming thick whitish crusts... In some cases the head becomes covered, giving the appearance of a solid white cap.
1922 Brit. Jrnl. Dermatol. & Syphilis 34 267 The scalp condition we are about to discuss is known to the natives..by the name of wit kop, dikwakwadi, or white head.
1949 S. Afr. Med. Jrnl. 17 Sept. 783/1 Witkop, dikwakwadi, or white-head, is a curious scalp affection found in only in syphilitic South African natives.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.21872adj.n.11577