Word.ws English Dictionary

deadheading

deadheading is the present participle and gerund of deadhead.

Noun

deadheading (countable and uncountable, plural deadheadings)

  1. The removal of dead flowers from a plant in order to encourage the growth of new ones, and to prevent the production of seeds.
  2. The driving of an unladen vehicle, such as a bus with no passengers, in order to take it from one place to another.

Meaning of deadhead

Verb

deadhead (third-person singular simple present deadheads, present participle deadheading, simple past and past participle deadheaded)

  1. (transitive) To admit to a performance without charge.
    • […] the "puffing" system in criticism, whereby newspaper people were deadheaded in exchange for complimentary notices.1960, Dissertation Abstracts, volume 20, page 2811
  2. (intransitive) To travel as a deadhead, or non-paying passenger.
  3. (intransitive, transitive) To drive an empty vehicle.
    • Kit had fallen into conversation with a footplate man who was deadheading back out to Samarkand, where he lived with his wife and children.2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 845
  4. (transitive) To send (a person or message) for free.
    • Washington suggested that she get some old friend of the family to come with her, and said the Senator would “deadhead” him home again as soon as he had grown tired, of the sights of the capital.1873, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age, Part 4.
  5. (transitive) To remove spent or dead blossoms from a plant.
    • If you deadhead your roses regularly, they will bloom all season.

See all 15 meanings of deadhead

Forms of deadheading

pluraldeadheadings

Questions about deadheading

What does deadheading mean?
Deadheading means the removal of dead flowers from a plant in order to encourage the growth of new ones, and to prevent the production of seeds.
What is deadheading the present participle and gerund of?
Deadheading is the present participle and gerund of deadhead.
What part of speech is deadheading?
Deadheading is a noun.
What is the plural of deadheading?
The plural of deadheading is deadheadings.

Words near deadheading in the dictionary

  1. deadhangs
  2. deadhead
  3. deadheaded
  4. deadheader
  5. deadheaders
  6. deadheading
  7. deadheadings
  8. deadheadism
  9. deadheads
  10. deadhearted
  11. deadheartedly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deadheading (page history and authors); deadhead (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “deadheading.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deadheading. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.