poleheads

Noun

polehead (plural poleheads)

1. The portion of a mast above the crossbar that holds the sail, which sometimes support a flag or topsail.
   • The sketch is from a photograph, and shows one of these old type of vessels before a light wind, with a small square topsail set upon the polehead of her single lofty spar.1890, Robert Charles Leslie, Old Sea Wings, Ways, and Words, in the Days of Oak and Hemp
2. The top of a flagpole.
   • They are not seen again until the camping-ground for the night is reached, when the four tents will be found pitched ready for us, with English and American flags flying at their poleheads.1880, James Hingston, The Australian Abroad
3. (broadly) The top of any pole.
   • The second type of collector is of the wood-pole, lubricated slider variety, having a box-type pole, poleheads that are individually flexible, and roller-bearing base provided with a passage for the cables and a stop to limit rotation.1922, Bus Transportation - Volume 1, Issues 5-12, page 282
4. The front portion of the pole that attaches a coach or wagon to the team of horses that pulls it.
   • The best pole-chains are those one end of which is fastened to a langet - frequently called a bridle - which slips over the end of the pole-hook, and fits into its place at the end of the polehead, the other end of the pole-chain having a long hook.1890, Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset Duke of Beaufort, Driving, page 99
5. A housing for wires that is attached to the top of a telephone pole or similar pole carrying power lines.
   • I think that the construction of a polehead to take care of the overhead ground wire is open to criticism.1908, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Transactions - Volume 26, Part 1, page 488
6. An emblem, usually made of metal, that tops a pole which is carried by the steward or secretary of a rural British club or friendly society.
   • Unfortunately the Trent polehead cannot be traced, but the rules of the “Trent and Compton Friendly Society', founded in 1819, are in the County Record Office in Taunton.1969, Annette Sandison, Trent in Dorset, page 105

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