Word: polehead Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From pole + head. 1. The portion of a mast above the crossbar that holds the sail, which sometimes support a flag or topsail. Example: The sketch is from a photograph, and shows one of these old type of vessels before a light wind, with a small square topsail set upon the polehead of her single lofty spar. Example: She was painted in encaustic purple, with a scarlet forecastle; her stern canopy was of laminated and gilded plates, with a carved lantern hanging from a scroll, and silk curtains to conceal the General's couch; her sails, reefed to the yard, were of purple silk; and at her polehead flew the purple flag -- the signal for action. 2. The top of a flagpole. Example: They are not seen again until the camping-ground for the night is reached, when the four tents will be found pitched ready for us, with English and American flags flying at their poleheads. Example: From a polehead flew a homemade flag cut from red, white and blue cloth. This ragtag banner sported the national colors of Hayes' homeland, USA. 3. The top of any pole. Labels: broadly Example: The second type of collector is of the wood-pole, lubricated slider variety, having a box-type pole, poleheads that are individually flexible, and roller-bearing base provided with a passage for the cables and a stop to limit rotation. 4. The front portion of the pole that attaches a coach or wagon to the team of horses that pulls it. Example: The best pole-chains are those one end of which is fastened to a langet - frequently called a bridle - which slips over the end of the pole-hook, and fits into its place at the end of the polehead, the other end of the pole-chain having a long hook. Example: Pole pieces should, while controlling the polehead instantly, not be drawn so tight that the horses are jammed against the pole; nor should they dangle loosely about. 5. A housing for wires that is attached to the top of a telephone pole or similar pole carrying power lines. Example: I think that the construction of a polehead to take care of the overhead ground wire is open to criticism. Example: The polehead is insulated electrically from the pole by a rubber sleeve which also absorbs vibrations from the polehead and thereby reduces noise. 6. An emblem, usually made of metal, that tops a pole which is carried by the steward or secretary of a rural British club or friendly society. Example: Unfortunately the Trent polehead cannot be traced, but the rules of the “Trent and Compton Friendly Society', founded in 1819, are in the County Record Office in Taunton. Example: It is stated that the glass makers of Nailsea had poleheads of glass in place of the more usual ones of polished brass. 7. A tadpole. Labels: dialectal Example: As “ the porwigle or tadpole” or “ loggerhead” or “polehead” is popularly supposed to be all head and tail, and as the latter seems to wiggle more than the former, a hint as to the precise meaning of the compounds “polwygle” and "polliwog" would have been welcome. Example: One significant polehead is that of a secretary of one of the Societies, and takes the form of a book, painted blue, with the word Society and the original silk tassles hanging down (colour plate 22).