Adjacent Words

deadhead definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a nonenterprising person who is not paying his way; "the deadheads on the payroll should be eased out as fast as possible"
2: a train or bus or taxi traveling empty

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: 1841 1. one who has not paid for a ticket 2. a dull or stupid person 3. a partially submerged log II. verb Date: 1911 intransitive verb 1. to make especially a return trip without a load 2. to deadhead a plant transitive verb to remove the faded flowers of (a plant) especially to keep a neat appearance and to promote reblooming by preventing seed production

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a faded flower-head. 2 a passenger or member of an audience who has made use of a free ticket. 3 a useless or unenterprising person. --v. 1 tr. remove deadheads from (a plant). 2 intr. US (of a driver etc.) complete a journey with an empty train, bus, etc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Feed Feed, n. 1. That which is eaten; esp., food for beasts; fodder; pasture; hay; grain, ground or whole; as, the best feed for sheep. 2. A grazing or pasture ground. --Shak. 3. An allowance of provender given to a horse, cow, etc.; a meal; as, a feed of corn or oats. 4. A meal, or the act of eating. [R.] For such pleasure till that hour At feed or fountain never had I found. --Milton. 5. The water supplied to steam boilers. 6. (Mach.) (a) The motion, or act, of carrying forward the stuff to be operated upon, as cloth to the needle in a sewing machine; or of producing progressive operation upon any material or object in a machine, as, in a turning lathe, by moving the cutting tool along or in the work. (b) The supply of material to a machine, as water to a steam boiler, coal to a furnace, or grain to a run of stones. (c) The mechanism by which the action of feeding is produced; a feed motion. Feed bag, a nose bag containing feed for a horse or mule. Feed cloth, an apron for leading cotton, wool, or other fiber, into a machine, as for carding, etc. Feed door, a door to a furnace, by which to supply coal. Feed head. (a) A cistern for feeding water by gravity to a steam boiler. (b) (Founding) An excess of metal above a mold, which serves to render the casting more compact by its pressure; -- also called a riser, deadhead, or simply feed or head --Knight. Feed heater. (a) (Steam Engine) A vessel in which the feed water for the boiler is heated, usually by exhaust steam. (b) A boiler or kettle in which is heated food for stock. Feed motion, or Feed gear (Mach.), the train of mechanism that gives motion to the part that directly produces the feed in a machine. Feed pipe, a pipe for supplying the boiler of a steam engine, etc., with water. Feed pump, a force pump for supplying water to a steam boiler, etc. Feed regulator, a device for graduating the operation of a feeder. --Knight. Feed screw, in lathes, a long screw employed to impart a regular motion to a tool rest or tool, or to the work. Feed water, water supplied to a steam boiler, etc. Feed wheel (Mach.), a kind of feeder. See Feeder, n., 8.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Deadhead Dead"head`, n. 1. One who receives free tickets for theaters, public conveyances, etc. [Colloq. U. S.] 2. (Naut.) A buoy. See under Dead, a.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see dead-head