cathead

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English

WOTD – 29 October 2024

Etymology

A cathead (sense 1.1) on the Russian frigate Shtandart with a cat’s head carved on the end.
A cathead (sense 1.1, left) of the Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg to which an anchor has been secured.
A diagram showing the parts of a ship’s anchor. The part labelled a is the ring; ab is the shank; the two parts labelled g are the flukes; and hk, the stock, is a bar going through the upper portion of the shank perpendicular to the flukes. The anchor is raised to or lowered from the cathead (sense 1.1) by a cable or chain attached to the ring at the stock end.
A decorative cathead (sense 1.2).

The noun is derived from cat +‎ head.[1][2]

Sense 1.1 (“heavy piece of timber projecting from a ship on which an anchor is raised or lowered, and secured”) is from the fact that such a timber traditionally had a cat or lion’s head carved on its end.[3] Sense 4 (“short for cathead biscuit”) is apparently from the fact that the biscuit is similar in size to a cat’s head.[4]

The verb is derived from the noun.[5]

Pronunciation

Noun

cathead (plural catheads)

  1. (nautical)
    2. A heavy piece of timber projecting somewhat horizontally from each side of the bow of a ship on which an anchor is raised or lowered, and secured when not used, from its stock end.
    4. A decorative element at the end of such a timber that often depicts a cat's head.
  2. (technology, chiefly mining) A (small) capstan (“vertical cylindrical machine that revolves on a spindle, used to apply force to cables, ropes, etc.”) or windlass (“type of winch”) forming part of hoisting machinery.
  3. (UK, dialectal) A nodule of ironstone containing fossil remains.
    • 1729, J[ohn] Woodward, “A Catalogue of the Plants in Stone, Contained in the First Classis”, in An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England; , tome I, London: F Fayram, ; J Senex, ; and J. Osborn and T Longman, , →OCLC, part II (A Catalogue of the English Fossils in the Collection of J. Woodward ), page 14:
      A piece of a ferruginous ſtoney Nodule having in it 3 Leaves of a capillary Plant […] Theſe Nodules, vvith Leaves in them, are called Catheads, and ſeem to conſiſt of a ſort of Iron-Stone, not unlike that vvhich is found very plentifully at Robinshood's-Bay in Yorkſhire, and in the Rocks near VVhitehaven in Cumberland: vvhere they there call 'em Cat-Scaups, and are frequently melted vvith the ſofter Iron-Ores.
  5. (US) Short for cathead biscuit (“a large fluffy biscuit, typically served with gravy”).

Alternative forms

Translations

See also

Verb

cathead (third-person singular simple present catheads, present participle catheading, simple past and past participle catheaded)

  1. (transitive, nautical) Synonym of cat (“to hoist (an anchor) so that it hangs at the cathead (noun sense 1.1)”)

Alternative forms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “cat-head, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.
  2. ^ “cathead, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  3. ^ Robert C Leslie (1890) “Figure-heads (continued)”, in Old Sea Wings, Ways, and Words, in the Days of Oak and Hemp, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, page 154: “The term ‘cat-heads,’ used for the two stout projecting timbers on either bow, from which the anchor hung clear of the ship before it was let go, was no doubt connected with the face of a lion, or large cat, usually carved upon the square ends of them.”
  4. ^ Cara Rose, quotee (2019 April 4) “The Appalachian Cat Head Biscuit”, in The Pocahontas Times‎, Marlinton, W.V.: The Pocahantas Times, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-05-29.
  5. ^ “cat-head, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.

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