Lexic.us

Definition of Head word

1. Noun. A content word that can be qualified by a modifier.

2. Noun. (grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent.

Lexicographical Neighbors of Head Word

head smut head south head start head starts head tax head teacher head tetanus head to head head to toe head to wind

head tone head trip head up head voice head word (current term) headache headache powder headaches headachey headachier

headachiest headachingly headachy headage headages headake headband headbanded headbands

Literary usage of Head word

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A New English Grammar, Logical and Historical by Henry Sweet (1903)
"As negation generally reverses the meaning of its head-word, it is most convenient practically to let it precede its head-word, so that the hearer's mind ..."

2. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel: With Supplementary Extracts from the by John Earle (1865)
"Where a modern word is put in brackets, thus [drench], it signifies that it is physically related to the head-word, but not its equivalent in meaning. г. n. ..."

3. Rhythm and Word-order in Anglo-Saxon and Semi-Saxon: With Special Reference by August Dahlstedt (1901)
"head-word, or head-word — inf. v. — mod.) seems to be of a purely syntactical nature, the intermediate link, being at the same time head-word and modifier, ..."

4. Notes and Queries by Martim de Albuquerque (1907)
"It is made up of the head-word " Gilt " and the infrequent end-word " ern," ... The head-word " Gilt " is allied on one hand to the continental Teutonic ..."

5. Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style Into Writer's Workshop by Jeff Anderson (2005)
"Finally, a student takes a stab. "Well . . . you added stuff." We discuss what the head word (first word) of each added clause is. I write the head word of ..."

6. Hindústáni as it Ought to be Spoken by John Tweedie (1900)
"The ' head-word' is not, as a rule, reprinted; but is represented by a short ... In such cases the short line represents the 'head-word' down to the last ..."

7. A Concordance to the English Poems of Thomas Grayby Albert Stanburrough Cook, Concordance Society by Albert Stanburrough Cook, Concordance Society (1908)
"Should one make the head-word Riseing, for example, as Gray twice spells it ? or Redning (Sonnet on the Death o( Richard West, line 2) ? ..."

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