HEAD OFF • DICTIONARY ONE.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

... little an' t' other so much. That Mr. 'Super' Metcalf now, as fine a man as treads shoe leather, never a doubt I doubt, yet himself judgin' it fair, since the man Wingate wanted the beast, the man Wingate should have him. Anyway, there he stands, brayin' his head off in the 'Supe's' stable, in trust for the old man'll never bestride him. Nobody rides him at all, Miss Amy says; yet here's me gineral heart-broke for him; an' the cripple goin' afoot; an' all them little Metcalfs envyin' an' covetin'; an' all because a man who's word is law said he'd ...

— Reels and Spindles - A Story of Mill Life • Evelyn Raymond

... and I done it so natural, they were well satisfied; and I being such a big man and heavy to shift, they give up the notion of slinging me into the Irrawaddy and went off still quarrelling. I stayed on without a move out of me for a full hour; then I got up yawning my head off, and walked away with the ...

— The Road to Mandalay - A Tale of Burma • B. M. Croker

... the first hour collected two hundred cars and turned them over to the Guards in Bird Cage Walk. Cody and Grahame-White and eight of his air men left Hendon an hour ago to reconnoitre the south coast. Admiral Beatty has started with the Channel Squadron to head off the German convoy in the North Sea, and the torpedo destroyers have been sent to lie outside of Heligoland. We'll get that back by daylight. And on land every one of the three services is under arms. On this coast alone before sunrise we'll have one hundred thousand men, and from Colchester ...

— The Red Cross Girl • Richard Harding Davis

... and tie his arms. If I were going to be bound I should like for the deed to be done with just such a beautiful piece of cloth. Meanwhile, if you cry out, my friend, I shall have to blow the top of your head off with this pistol. It's not likely that they would hear your cry, but they might hear my ...

— The Texan Star - The Story of a Great Fight for Liberty • Joseph A. Altsheler

... brigadier, sinking down on the bundle. Then he turned and glared at me savagely. "Idiot!" he cried, labouring for his breath. "Espece d'imbecile. Ah! Nom d'un petit bonhomme. You were on the end. Why did you not head off ...

— A Village of Vagabonds • F. Berkeley Smith

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