Word.ws English Dictionary

waterhead

waterhead noun: a spring or headwater.

Noun

waterhead (countable and uncountable, plural waterheads)

  1. A spring or headwater.
    • It is bounded to the southward by a line of springs or waterheads, which is also the northern boundary of the tract called the Terrai , one equally distinguished with the former from the souther plain country, but occasionally annexed to it and occasionally to the hills.1842, “Report of the Mineralogical Survey of the Himmalaya Mountains”, in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, volume 11, page xxxix
    • Pukaki means a river source, the waterhead; so the name is literally descriptive.1931, New Zealand Railways Magazine - Volume 6, page 20
  2. An area of high elevation, viewed as the catchment basin for a region.
    • In my Report on the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire, the first volume of which, treating the surface, minerals, rivers, &c. is now in the press, An alphabetical List of the most remarkable Mountains, Hills and Eminences has been printed, referring to a small Map of 41 principal Ridges, or...1811, John Farey, “To Mr. Tilloch”, in The Philosophical Magazine, page 161
    • Forty major waterhead forestry conservation zones with a combined area of 800,000 ha have been designated in the Guangxi Autonomous Region, and related regulations on the management of these forests have been proclaimed, according to the regional authorities.1982, Summary of World Broadcasts: The Far East., page 15
  3. A reservoir or natural source of water that is put to use.
    • As a result of narrowing the stream channel, a waterhead is formed in front of a structure and the depth of water reaches the magnitude H, greater than the depth of an unelevated water a.1963, United States. Dept. of Commerce. Office of Technical Services, OTS. - Issues 60-21508
    • There is plenty of water in the valley, but placement along an irrigation ditch can affect the amount of water a patch will receive. Most large farms have their own waterheads where water is taken out of the stream .1972, R. Warwick Armstrong, Henry T. Lewis, Preliminary Research in Human Ecology, 1970, page 33
  4. A portion of a device or system where water is stored before it is used, such as a header tank.
    • The water supplied to the boiler first pases into a waterhead situate within the smoke box, where it becomes heated preparatory to entering the boiler.1867, English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1867, 2905 - 2960, page 3
    • This device is nothing more than a piece of copper pipe, which is employed on account of its sensitiveness to change of temperature. The thermostat tube is connected solid into what is termed the "waterhead."1908 November 16, H.R. Basford, “Modern Methods of Heating”, in Progressive Age, volume 26, page 671
  5. The amount of water or water pressure provided by a waterhead (reservoir or portion of a device that stores water).
    • Where water is conveyed through pipes and there is sufficient waterhead for pipe pressure, spraying irrigation may be resorted to.1916, Frank Duane Gardner, Successful Farming, page 775
    • Briefly, a hydraulic air compressor may be described as an inverted siphon, consisting of an intake head where water and air are mingled, followed by a gravity-fall tube in which air is intimately mixed with the water and is compressed as the water pressure increases during the fall down the tube...1954, Leroy E. Schulze, Hydraulic Air Compressors, page 1
  6. A showerhead.
    • I even shower with my pen, in case any ideas drip out of the waterhead.2014, Sherree A. Felstead, Passion to Paper, page 33
    • Kapitan Leeuwen's bathroom was bigger than my stateroom. A huge black-marble shower, with waterheads at three levels.2021, Philip Atlee, The Makassar Strait Contract
  7. The place where water enters or exits a device or system.
    • Inlet and outlet waterheads at each end of the condenser are arranged such that cooling water flow through the condenser is single flow .1986, Great Britain. Central Electricity Generating Board. Generation Development and Construction Division, Advances in Power Station Construction, page 269
    • Armitage, rear 2016 The home is adorned with replica plaster rosettes and decorative lead waterheads fed by the house's gutters.2016, Christopher Everette Cenac, Hard Scrabble to Hallelujah
  8. A water main.
    • This system consists of one or more lengths of pipe, extending from the main, or waterhead.1909 March 27, “Water And Mechanical Watering”, in Weekly Market Growers' Journal, volume 4, page 24
    • A typical arrangement of waterhead and branch pipe is shown in the sketch.1955, R. N. Newton, Practical Construction of Warships, page 201
  9. A burst of water.
    • Hot flashes were a mere summer shower compared to the waterhead she created more days a month than not.1975, Women - Volume 4, page 10
  10. (uncountable) Hydrocephalus.
    • The head enlarges and "waterhead" ( hydrocephalus ) results.1973, Randolph Lee Clark, Russell Walters Cumley, The Book of Health: A Medical Encyclopedia for Everyone, page 383
    • Marcy's child born with waterhead.1977, Patricia Gallagher, Mystic Rose, page 110
  11. The enlarged head of a person or animal with hydrocephalus.
    • ADELE : A waterhead. You know, one of them high heads.1970, E. J. Bellocq, John Szarkowski, Storyville Portraits
    • The doctor continued, “For three hours we've been trying to work on her before we go into her brain. But the mass is gone, and her head has begun to shrink down from a waterhead to normal.2009, William J. Petersen, Randy Petersen, 100 Amazing Answers to Prayer, page 214
  12. A hydrocephalic person or animal.
    • He has also shown how an internal pressure, like that of growing beans or of a column of water will expand or burst it – in life we observe the same expansion occurring in waterheads and on account of other internal morbid growths, above all in the younger years of life.1904, Philip Henry Erbés, Cranio-muscular Origins of Brain and Mind, page 23
    • "Probabilities are zero to 25 per cent that a dead calf will be a waterhead, but it's something that every cattle breeder should be aware of," Schalles says.1975, The Cattleman - Volume 62, page 12
  13. (derogatory, slang) A stupid or ugly person.
    • 8:33 a.m. Jesus, this waterhead Gurney again! You'd think the poor bugger would have the sense to not talk any more ... but no, Gurney is still blundering along, still hammering blindly at the receding edges of Dean's 'credibility' in his now-obvious role as what Frank Reynolds and Sam Donaldson on...2010, Hunter S Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt: The Gonzo Papers 1
    • It's heading for Provo, Utah, where it will meet a woman who works for the city sanitation department, in the typing pool; it will woo her, win her, marry her and have three children by her, one of which will be a waterhead like you.2012, Harlan Ellison, Stalking the Nightmare

Verb

waterhead (third-person singular simple present waterheads, present participle waterheading, simple past and past participle waterheaded)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To behave in an imbecilic manner.
    • This was no time to waterhead around.2011, L.E. Mae, Stifle, page 20

Proper noun capitalized: Waterhead

Waterhead

  1. A civil parish in north-east Cumberland district, Cumbria, previously in City of Carlisle district
  2. A settlement on Windermere in Lakes parish, Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria (OS grid ref NY3703).
  3. A hamlet in Aveton Gifford parish, South Hams district, Devon (OS grid ref SX6847).
  4. A locality and ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester (OS grid ref SD9506).

Examples of waterhead in a sentence

  • At the true waterhead, where the road from Hawkshead joins the road round the lake, used to stand the Old Waterhead Inn.2022, W. G. Collingwood, The Book of Coniston:
  • The Kontum Highland area, near Kontum and Plei Ku, is the waterhead of the Sesan, while the Darlac Plain, near Ban Me Thuot, is the Srepok waterhead.2018, Bennett L. Bearden, Following the Proper Channels, page 157:
  • "To create a waterhead on the flat ground," my travelling companion said.1989, Muqi Che, The Silk Road, Past and Present, page 297:
  • Looking back, Yewdale Crag stands finely over the waterhead; Brantwood is opposite.2018, William Gershom Collingwood, The Book of Coniston, page 8:

Forms of waterhead

Noun
pluralwaterheads
Verb
third-person singular presentwaterheads
present participlewaterheading
past participlewaterheaded
pastwaterheaded

Origin of waterhead

From water + head.

Questions about waterhead

What does waterhead mean?
Waterhead means a spring or headwater.
How do you use waterhead in a sentence?
At the true waterhead, where the road from Hawkshead joins the road round the lake, used to stand the Old Waterhead Inn.
What part of speech is waterhead?
Waterhead can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
What is the plural of waterhead?
The plural of waterhead is waterheads.

Words near waterhead in the dictionary

  1. waterguard
  2. watergun
  3. waterguns
  4. waterhammer
  5. waterhammers
  6. waterhead
  7. waterheaded
  8. waterheading
  9. waterheads
  10. waterhemp
  11. waterhen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: waterhead (page history and authors); Waterhead (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.

Last updated:

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