a person who attends a performance, sports event, etc., or travels on a train, airplane, etc., without having paid for a ticket, especially a person using a complimentary ticket or free pass.
a train, railroad car, airplane, truck, or other commercial vehicle while operating empty, as when returning to a terminal.
a stupid or boring person; dullard.
Metallurgy. excess metal in the riser of a mold.
a sunken or partially sunken log.
verb (used with object)
to transport (someone) as a deadhead.
to move (an empty commercial vehicle) along a route.
Horticulture. to remove faded blooms from (ornamental plants), especially in flower gardens, often to help continued blooming.
verb (used without object)
to act or serve as a deadhead.
(of a commercial vehicle) to travel without cargo or paying passengers: The train carried coal to Pittsburgh and then deadheaded back to Virginia to pick up another load.
Origin of deadhead
First recorded in 1570–80; dead + head
Words nearby deadhead
dead fingers, dead firing, dead freight, dead from the neck up, dead hand, deadhead, Dead Heart, dead heat, dead horse, dead in one's tracks, dead in the water