cathead
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkæthɛd/
ipa: /ˈkætˌ(h)ɛd/
Forms: form: catheads
form: cat-head
Etymology: The noun is derived from cat + head.
Sense 1.1 (“heavy piece of timber projecting from a ship on which an anchor is raised or lowered, and secured”) is from the fact that such a timber traditionally had a cat or lion’s head carved on its end. Sense 4 (“ellipsis of cathead biscuit”) is apparently from the fact that the biscuit is similar in size to a cat’s head.
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: "Hurrah, for the last time," said the mate; and the anchor came to the cat-head to the tune of "Time for us to go," with a loud chorus. Everything was done quick, as though it were for the last time.
ref: 1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXIX, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC, page 349:
text: The cat-heads had burned away, and the two red-hot anchors had gone to the bottom, tearing out after them two hundred fathom of red-hot chain.
ref: 1898 September, Joseph Conrad, “Youth: a Narrative”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXIV, number DCCCCXCV, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publication Co., page 325, column 1:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A heavy piece of timber projecting somewhat horizontally from each side of the bow of a ship on which an anchor is raised or lowered, and secured when not used, from its stock end.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A decorative element at the end of such a timber that often depicts a cat's head.
topics: business
engineering
mining
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
technology
glosses: A (small) capstan (“vertical cylindrical machine that revolves on a spindle, used to apply force to cables, ropes, etc.”) or windlass (“type of winch”) forming part of hoisting machinery.
examples: text: A piece of a ferruginous ſtoney Nodule having in it 3 Leaves of a capillary Plant […] Theſe Nodules, vvith Leaves in them, are called Catheads, and ſeem to conſiſt of a ſort of Iron-Stone, not unlike that vvhich is found very plentifully at Robinshood's-Bay in Yorkſhire, and in the Rocks near VVhitehaven in Cumberland: vvhere they there call 'em Cat-Scaups, and are frequently melted vvith the ſofter Iron-Ores.
ref: 1729, J[ohn] Woodward, “A Catalogue of the Plants in Stone, Contained in the First Classis”, in An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England; […], tome I, London: […] F[rancis] Fayram, […]; J[ohn] Senex, […]; and J. Osborn and T[homas] Longman, […], →OCLC, part II (A Catalogue of the English Fossils in the Collection of J. Woodward […]), page 14:
glosses: A nodule of ironstone containing fossil remains.
examples: text: The trick to eating catheads was to get the butter on them before they got cold—then they were delicious. When, unluckily, they were allowed to get cold, they tended to a gooeyness, not unlike a wad of tired gum.
ref: 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 6, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →LCCN, page 36:
glosses: Ellipsis of cathead biscuit (“a large fluffy biscuit, typically served with gravy”).
Related terms: word: cat-back-rope
word: cat-rope
word: cat-block
word: catfall
word: cat-fall
word: cathead biscuit
word: cat-head-stopper
word: cat-stopper
word: cathook
word: cat-hook
word: katkop