From: John Schulien   <U21187@uicvm.bitnet>
Subject: Definition of a "dead-head"
Reply-To: U21187@uicvm.bitnet
Organization: The Internet
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1992 20:17:48 GMT

"Dr. Josie McQuail" <JAM0073%TNTECH.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu> writes:
| A while ago someone asked about the definition of a "deadhead." ...

Here's the online Oxford English Dictionary definition. Amazing!

'deadhead, dead-head, dead head, sb.
  1 Old Chem. = CAPUT MORTUUM 2.  Obs.
  1576 BAKER Jewell of Health 195 a, See whether the deadeheade be
blacke. 1662 R. MATHEW Unl. Alch. Sect.109. 177 Take from the Dunghil
at the Refiners, his dead head, commonly called, Caput mortuum. 1707
Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 329, I made a Lixivium with clear Water, and
filter'd it to take away the dead head of it.
  2 Techn. a Founding.  The extra length or `head' of metal at the
muzzle end of a gun-casting, which contains the dross formed on the
molten metal, and which is cut off when cool; see also quot. 1874.
b Mech.  The tail-stock of a lathe, containing the dead spindle (see
DEAD a. 23). c Naut.  (See quot. 1867.)
  1867 SMYTH Sailor's Word-bk., Dead-head, a kind of dolphin (a stout
post on a quay head to make hawsers fast to); also, a rough block of
wood used as an anchor-bouy. 1869 Eng. Mech. 17 Dec. 320/1 When castings
are required to be particularly solid..they are generally made with
what is termed a `dead head'. 1874 KNIGHT Dict. Mech., Dead&dubh.head..That
piece on a casting which fills the ingate at which the metal entered
the mold.  A feeding-head.
  3 colloq. a A person admitted without payment to a theatrical performance,
a public conveyance, etc.  Also attrib. and transf. orig. U.S.
  1841 Spirit of Times 23 Jan. 564/1 The house on Tuesday was filled
as far as $300 could fill, barring `the dead heads'. 1848 BARTLETT
Dict. Amer. App. s.v., Persons who drink at a bar, ride in an omnibus,
or railroad car, travel in steamboats, or visit the theatre without
charge, are called dead heads. 1853 LOWELL Moosehead Jrnl. Prose Wks.
1890 I. 19 Those `attentive clerks' whose praises are sung by thankful
deadheads. 1863 Rep. Maine Board Agric. 15 The milch cow which barely
pays the expense of keeping and care is a `dead head' yielding no profit.
1864 SALA in Daily Telegraph 1 Nov., A friend of mine, a very eminent
`dead-head'-that is to say, one who has free admissions everywhere
and to everything. 1869 W. H. BREWER Rocky Mt. Lett. (1930) 11 We had
quite a train-some congressmen who have dead-head tickets over the
road. 1887 C. B. GEORGE 40 Yrs. on Rail ii. 32 Once in a while the
conductor found it desirable to eject some would-be dead-head passenger
while between stations. 1892 Daily News 16 Sept. 5/6 The natural antipathy
between peformers and what are known in the theatrical profession as
`deadheads'..who do not pay for their entertainment.1892 Congress.
Rec. 31 May, App. 385/1 The free-delivery service is burdened by the
collection and delivery of thousands of dead-head matter under the
`penalty-postage system'.
  b Used predicatively without article.  U.S.
  1874 MARK TWAIN & C. D. WARNER Gilded Age xxx. 275 Senators and
Representativs..always traveled `dead-head' both ways. 1888 Portland
Transcript 14 Mar. (Farmer),
Those letters which had to do with the stage business and went
dead-head.
  c A non-combatant accompanying a fighting force.  U.S.
  1864 T. C. REYNOLDS in J. N. Edwards Shelby & his Men (1867) xxvii.
470 The real fighting men did little injury, sneaks and dead-heads
being the principal plunderers. 1867 J. N. EDWARDS Shelby & his Men
xxi. 396 Accompanied by at least five hundred `dead-heads', loafers,
and amateur cavalry gentlemen.
  d A train, freight car, truck, etc., carrying no passengers or freight.
Also attrib.  U.S.
  1938 L. M. BEEBE High Iron 220 Deadhead,..empty passenger car. 1945
Greeley (Colorado) Daily Tribune 15 Dec. 1/7 The headon collision of
a deadhead engine and a 37-car freight train. 1950 A. LOMAX Mr. Jelly
Roll 109 A deadhead, an empty mail car.
  4 In full dead head log: a sunken or submerged log.  U.S.
  1902 S. E. WHITE Blazed Trail lv. 380 He was enabled to catch the
slanting end of a `dead head' log whose lower end was jammed in the
crib. 1905 Terms Forestry & Logging 34. 1907 Black Cat June 17 Numerous
`dead-heads' bobbed in the current like otters swimming with the stream.
  5 A person who contributes nothing to an enterprise, activity, etc.;
an unenterprising person.
  1942 N. STREATFEILD I ordered Table 215 It's an awfully sticky party
this... I'm a deadhead to-night, but I can't help it. 1952 Landfall
VI. 265 You can ignore him God too, as these Te Parenga deadheads
do. 1964 Economist 4 Apr. 40/1 A `dead head agency', a safe berth for
unenterprising civil servants.
  6 A faded flower head.  See DEAD a. A. 1 c.
  1960 D. HOLMAN-HUNT My Grandmothers & I i. 7 Did you cut off all
the deadheads? 1962 N. MARSH Hand in Glove v. 177 I'll go and snip
the deadheads off the roses. 1970 C. LLOYD Well-Tempered Garden i.
48 The culling of dead heads is a ploy that figures persistently in
the garden in summer.
  Hence 'deadheadism, the practice of admitting persons as `deadheads'.
  1887 Miss Bayle's Romance III. 92, I mean to abolish dead-headism.

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