flathead
/ˈflathɛd
/noun
1An edible tropical marine fish that has a pointed flattened head with the eyes positioned on the top, typically burrowing in the seabed with just the eyes showing.
- Family Platycephalidae: several genera and species.
- The odd flathead with juvenile bream are being caught in the rivers.
- In this area, commercial fishermen will not be able to target recreational species such as whiting, bream, flathead and mulloway.
2 (Flathead) A member of certain North American Indian peoples such as the Chinook, Choctaw, and Salish, named from their supposed practice of flattening their children’s heads artificially.By the mid-nineteenth century, they had pushed their enemies, particularly the Shoshone, Flathead, and Kootenai, west across the Rocky Mountains....
- In 1875 destitute bands of Flatheads and Pend d' Oreilles were pressing into Blackfeet territory.
- Flathead chief Victor refused to move his band from the Bitterroot Valley, the ancestral homeland of the Flatheads.
3 [as modifier] US (Of an engine) having the valves and spark plugs in the cylinder block rather than the cylinder head, which is essentially a flat plate.I have a '50 Ford pickup with a blown flathead in it....
- It had the doors welded shut and the roof cut off, and it was powered by a stock flathead.
3.1(Of a vehicle) having a flathead engine.
4 [as modifier] US (Of a screw) countersunk.The unit has a base stand attached to it that can be removed via a single flathead screw....
- To clean the wheels, grab a small flathead screw driver (the real small ones) and chisel the dirt off.
- With a small flathead screwdriver, gently pry the drive free.