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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

headless en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈhɛdləs/
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English heedles, hevedles, from Old English hēafodlēas (“headless”), equivalent to head + -less. Cognate with Dutch hoofdloos (“headless”), Danish hovedløs (“headless”), Swedish huvudlös (“headless”), Icelandic höfuðlaus (“headless”). Piecewise doublet of chefless and chiefless.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) Without a head (body part). ▸ Synonym of decapitated.
    • How did the headless horseman see to chase Ichabod?
  2. (not-comparable) Without a head (body part). ▸ Naturally having and needing no head.
    • headless invertebrates
  3. (not-comparable) Without a head (hardware or device feature).
    • a headless nail;   a headless set screw
  4. (not-comparable) Without leadership.
    • His forsaken soldiers, being now a headless company, and no longer an army to be feared, obtained nevertheless a reasonable composition from the Carthaginians […] 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):
    • The headless army blundered along after the death of their general, accomplishing nothing.
  5. (not-comparable, of a phrase or compound) Not having a head morpheme or word.
  6. (not-comparable) Running without a graphical user interface; running without any attached output device (e.g., monitor) or input device (e.g., keyboard, mouse).
    • Routers typically run headless, without a keyboard or monitor. 2007, Carla Schroder, Linux Networking Cookbook, O’Reilly Media, published 2008, →ISBN, page 47:
    • This is not unexpected for a Windows system running as a virtual machine or a headless server,[…] 2010, Charles Bell et al., MySQL High Availability: Tools for Building Robust Data Centers, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 278:
    • /redirect. Used for console redirection in headless servers. 2003, William Boswell, Inside Windows Server 2003, Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, page 62:
  7. (not-comparable, of beer) Without a head of foam.
  8. (not-comparable, obsolete) Heedless.
    • 1579, E. K. (Edward Kirke?), Notes on Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calender If any one will rashly blame such his choice of old and unwonted words, him may I more justly blame and condemn, either of witless headiness in judging, or of headless hardiness in condemning.
    • THENOT: Cuddy, I wot thou kenſt little Good, / So vainly to advance thy headleſs Hood. 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:
  9. (not-comparable, obsolete) Rimless, not having a cartridge case rim (flange).
    • A headless shell doesn't have a flange.

Coordinates

rudderless

Deriveds

headless horsewoman · Headless Cross · headless chicken monster · like a headless chook · run around like a headless chicken · headless genitive · headlessness · headless browser · Headless Horseman · Headless Horsewoman · headlessly · headless over heels · headless lounge · like a headless chicken · headless horseman

Synonyms

leaderless · unheaded · beheaded · deheaded · decapitated

Translations (25)

enm heedles (without a head) · cy di-ben (without a head) · lt begalvis (without a head) · tr başsız (without a head) · fr acéphale (without a head) · cs bezhlavý (without a head) · ca acèfal (without a head) · ru обезгла́вленный (without a head) · sh bezglav (without a head) · el ακέφαλος (without a head) · sco heidless (without a head) · de kopflos (without a head) · pt acéfalo (without a head) · ru безголо́вый (without a head) · fr sans tête (without a head) · cmn 無頭的 /无头的 (without a head) · fi päätön (without a head) · grc ἀκέφαλος (without a head) · pl bezgłowy (without a head) · ta தலை இல்லா (without a head) · cy pengoll (without a head) · fr décapité (without a head) · eo senkapa (without a head) · sh безглав (without a head) · io senkapa (without a head)