Some dictionaries define close to thirty meanings of the word head. However, a majority of usages are associated with the connotation of forward, top, essential, control, etc., which are derived from attributes of an animal head (or brain).
- In anatomy, the head of an animal is the anterior part that bears the mouth, the brain and various sensory organs (e.g. organs of sight, hearing, smell and taste).
- By extension, the word head can refer to the top of an object or to a protruberance near the top (head of a nail).
- In the context of coin flipping, the heads (usually obverse) side of a coin (as opposed to the tails side) is the side with a person's head on it.
- In botany, a head is a type of inflorescence, previously known as a composite flower — a structure composed of numerous individual flowers.
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- The head of a sail is its uppermost corner or, in the case of four-cornered sails, sometimes its uppermost edge.
- The head sail is a jib, spinnaker or any other sail set forward of the foremost mast.
- The head is the nautical name both for a toilet or latrine of a marine vessel, and for the structure projecting from the bows of sailing ships which served that purpose for the seamen.