HEAD OFF • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Head off

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/hɛd ɔf/ Listen

verb

Head v. t. (past & past part. headed; pres. part. heading)

To be at the head of; to put one's self at the head of; to lead; to direct; to act as leader to; as, to head an army, an expedition, or a riot.

To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head; as, to head a nail.

To behead; to decapitate. (Obs.)

To cut off the top of; to lop off; as, to head trees.

To go in front of; to get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose; hence, to check or restrain; as, to head a drove of cattle; to head a person; the wind heads a ship.

To set on the head; as, to head a cask.

To head off, to intercept; to get before; as, an officer heads off a thief who is escaping. "We'll head them off at the pass."

To head up,

(a)

to close, as a cask or barrel, by fitting a head to.

(b)

To serve as the leader of; as, to head up a team of investigators.

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Etymology of 'Head off'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Head off" Quotes from Famous Books

... sez I from my cot. "The man that sez that to me will be hurt. I do not know," sez I, "fwhat onderhand divilmint you have conthrived, but by what I've seen I know that you cannot commit murdher wid another man's rifle—such shakin' cowards you are. I'm goin' to slape," I sez, "an' you can blow my head off whoile I lay." I did not slape, though, for a long ...

— Soldiers Three • Rudyard Kipling

... had told Shorty, he did not expect to rout or capture the outlaws; the best he could hope for was that Shorty would get help in time to head off the cattle before the other outlaws drove them into Kinney's canon or that he would bring help to the Circle L men in time to prevent the sanguinary fight which would certainly occur as soon ...

— The Trail Horde • Charles Alden Seltzer

... not!" laughed Mirabell. "Once you tried to get the tangles and snarls out of the hair of one of my dolls, and you 'most pulled her head off." ...

— The Story of a Lamb on Wheels • Laura Lee Hope

... notice. It is dark behind the door. They will not flash a light into your eyes. They saw me yesterday going out; but they did not look at me closely. Be quiet and listen. They will find me here to-morrow—and what then? Will they cut my head off? That will be no satisfaction, because I will die anyhow in three or four weeks. And you, as soon as you are out of here, to horse, and go straight to Prince Witold. You will present yourself to him; you will bow before him; he will receive you and ...

— The Knights of the Cross • Henryk Sienkiewicz

... his eyes about for some weapon, but there was not a stick or a stone in sight. He was a good golf-player; if he had a loaded stick, he could easily take the serpent's head off, he thought; but there was no stick. There was only one hope, he felt, and that would be to attract the creature to himself; and he hardly dared move lest the fascinated gaze should close upon the victim as she lay there sweetly sleeping, ...

— The Girl from Montana • Grace Livingston Hill

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