loggerhead

Noun

loggerhead (plural loggerheads)

1. (obsolete) A stupid person; a blockhead, a dolt.
   • Ah, you whoreſon loggerhead, you were borne to do me ſhame.c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby...
   • [Y]ou in the mean time, you ſilly Logerhead, deſerve to have your Bones well-thraſh'd with a Fool's ſtaff, for thinking to ſtir up Kings and Princes to War by ſuch Childiſh Arguments.1692, John Milton, “The Author’s Preface”, in [Joseph Washington], transl., A Defence of the People of England, […]: In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page xx

   Synonyms:

   addle-brain, addlehead, addle pate, airhead, baboon, beanbrain, beetlebrain, beetlehead, berk, bimbo

2. A metal tool consisting of a long rod with a bulbous end that is made hot in a fire, then plunged into some material (such as pitch or a liquid) to melt or heat it.
   • Stalleen Station. Four new sets of hand-rails, one new foot-board, and one new sluice have been put on. A new balance beam has been put on the guard lock, and the sluices, bearing irons, and loggerheads secured. The other works are in good order.1865, James Bellew, “[Appendix D. Inland Navigations and Harbours.] Report of Mr. James Bellew, Superintendent, on the State of the Work of the Boyne Navigation. For the Year 1865. [Report no....
   • These were the two invalids in the starboard sick-berth, whom Padeen had been sitting with. They had been sparring, in a spirit of fun, with loggerheads, those massy iron balls with long handles to be carried red-hot from the fire and plunged into buckets of tar or pitch so that the substance might...1994, Patrick O’Brian, chapter 1, in The Commodore, London: HarperCollins Publishers, published 2003, →ISBN, page 14
3. A post on a whaling boat used to secure the harpoon rope.
   • Not very far distant Flask's boat was also lying breathlessly still; its commander recklessly standing upon the top of the loggerhead, a stout sort of post rooted in the keel, and rising some two feet above the level of the stern platform. It is used for catching turns with the whale line. Its top...1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The First Lowering”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 245–246
4. (Midlands, dialectal, in plural, often) A thistle-like flowering plant of the genus Centaurea, particularly the common knapweed (Centaurea nigra).
   • Loggerheads, from the resemblance of its knobbed involucres to a weapon so called, consisting of a ball of iron at the end of a stick, the knapweed, the Clobbewed of old MSS. Centaurea nigra, L.1863, R[ichard] C[handler] A[lexander] Prior, “Loggerheads”, in On the Popular Names of British Plants, […], London; Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate, […], →OCLC, page 137
   • Bolwes, loggerheads, centaurea nigra. […] Bolwes is balls, the hard round heads of the wort. Loggerheads is a name I have often heard in Oxfordshire.1866, “Saxon Names of Worts and Trees”, in Oswald Cockayne, editor, Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England. […] (Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores), volume III, London...
5. The loggerhead duck or Falkland steamer duck (Tachyeres brachypterus; formerly Tachyeres cinereus), a species of steamer duck endemic to the Falkland Islands.
   • But here is a ſpecies of ducks, called the loggerhead, from its large head. They have ſhort wings, are unable to fly, and only ſwim and flap along on the water at an extraordinary rate.1775 November 9, William Clayton, “V. An Account of the Falkland Islands”, in Philosophical Transactions, of the Royal Society of London, volume XLVI, part I, number 446, London: Printed by W[illiam]...
   • A ſpecies of duck, as large as a gooſe, and called the loggerhead duck at the Falkland Iſlands, is here met with, which beats the water with its wings and feet, and runs along the ſea with inconceivable velocity; […]1810 July, Jedidiah Morse, “Terra del Fuego Island”, in The American Gazetteer, Exhibiting a Full Account of the Civil Divisions, Rivers, Harbors, Indian Tribes, &c. of the American Continent: […]...

   Synonyms:

   logger duck

6. The loggerhead kingbird (Tyrannus caudifasciatus), a bird endemic to the Caribbean and West Indies.
   • [E]arly in the season, a pair of Loggerheads, Tyrannus caudifasciatus, appropriated the same tree to themselves, and commenced constructing their nest. The Mocking birds were seen constantly in the square, but never interrupted or interfered with them until they had nearly completed the nest; they...1863 October–November, W. T. March, S[pencer] F[ullerton] Baird, “(Communicated by the Smithsonian Institution.) Notes on the Birds of Jamaica. […]”, in Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences...
7. The rufous-tailed flycatcher (Myiarchus validus), a bird endemic to Jamaica.
   • Myiarchus validus, Cab. (Tyrannus crinitus, Gosse.)—The Red Petchary of the South and the Red Loggerhead of the mountains and Western districts agrees with the common Loggerhead in its general habits, except that of association; it is always found solitary, or in pairs; […]1863 October–November, W. T. March, S[pencer] F[ullerton] Baird, “(Communicated by the Smithsonian Institution.) Notes on the Birds of Jamaica. […]”, in Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences...
8. The loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), a bird endemic to North America.
   • […] I have received here also one of the parent birds, and in this instance I have been again surprised to learn that it is the Loggerhead, and not borealis or excubitoroides, that is the species referred to. […] So that we have in all ten well-authenticated instances of the Loggerhead breeding in...1879 April, T[homas] M[ayo] Brewer, “General Notes. [The Loggerhead Shrike (Colluro ludovicianus) Breeding in Northern New England.]”, in Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club: A Quarterly...
9. The loggerhead musk turtle (Sternotherus minor), a large-headed turtle endemic to the United States.
   • Sternotherus minor (Agassiz) / Loggerhead musk-turtle / […] Most numerous in large calcareous springs, where they may be seen at night wandering around on the bottom, especially about piles of debris.1940 January, Archie Fairly Carr, Jr., “Annotated List”, in A Contribution to the Herpetology of Florida (University of Florida Biological Science Series; vol. III, no. 1), [Gainesville, Fla.]...
   • The loggerhead (S[ternotherus] m[inor] minor) and stripe-necked (S. m. peltifer) musk turtles represent two distinct subspecies of a species with a tan to brown carapace with black streaking and overlapping scutes down the center of the carapace. […] The head of old loggerhead musk turtles becomes...2008, Kurl Buhlmann, Tracey Tuberville, Whit Gibbons, “Loggerhead and Striped-head Musk Turtles”, in Turtles of the Southeast (Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book), Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia...
10. The loggerhead sea turtle or loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), an oceanic turtle found throughout the world.
    • The Loggerhead is ſo called from the largeneſs of its head, which is much bigger in proportion than that of other kinds. The fleſh of this alſo is very rank, and not eaten but in caſe of neceſſity.1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Tortoise, and Its Kinds”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume VI, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse...
    • [O]ur boat was hoisted out, and a loggerhead turtle struck as it was sleeping on the surface of the water. […] Dr. Patrick Browne, in his Natural History of Jamaica, mentions the hawksbill, the green turtle, and the loggerhead only. […] The loggerhead from which his description was taken was caught...1850 November, “Leaves from the Note-book of a Naturalist. Part XI.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XLII, number CCLI, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, page 548
11. (Shropshire) the head of a leopard, as commonly seen on the flag of Shropshire