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Head vs Front - What's the difference?

head | front |

Front is a synonym of head.



In obsolete terms the difference between head and front

is that head is to behead; to decapitate while front is the forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.

In transitive terms the difference between head and front

is that head is to strike with the head; as in soccer, to head the ballfront is to lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).

In intransitive terms the difference between head and front

is that head is to form a head while front is to assume false or disingenuous appearances.

As a proper noun Head

is {{surname|from=Middle English}}, from residence near a hilltop or the head of a river, or a byname for someone with an odd-looking head.

head

English

Alternative forms

* heed (obsolete), hed (obsolete)

Noun

{{ picdic , image=Human head and brain diagram.svg , width=310 , labels= , detail1=Click on labels in the image , detail2= }} (wikipedia head)
  • (label) The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth and main sense organs.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5535161W Mr. Pratt's Patients] , passage=Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.}}
  • # (label) To do with heads.
  • ## Mental or emotional aptitude or skill.
  • #
  • #
  • ## Mind; one's own thoughts.
  • #
  • ##* {{quote-book, year=1935, author=[https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/288354.George_Goodchild George Goodchild]
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=“Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke
  • ## A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication.
  • ##* 1888 , (Rudyard Kipling), ‘Thrown Away’, Plain Tales from the Hills , Folio Society 2005 edition, page 18,
  • #
    he took them seriously, too, just as seriously as he took the ‘head ’ that followed after drink.
  • ## A headdress; a covering for the head.
  • #
  • ## An individual person.
  • #
  • # (label) To do with heads.
  • ## A single animal.
  • #
  • #
  • #
  • #
  • #
  • ## The population of game.
  • #
  • ## The antlers of a deer.
  • (label) The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5535161W Mr. Pratt's Patients] , passage=Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.}}
  • # The end of a table.
  • ## The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor.
  • #
  • ## (label) The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked.
  • # (label) The principal operative part of a machine or tool.
  • ## The end of a hammer, axe, golf club or similar implement used for striking other objects.
  • ## The end of a nail, screw, bolt or similar fastener which is opposite the point; usually blunt and relatively wide.
  • #
  • ## The sharp end of an arrow, spear or pointer.
  • #
  • ## (label) The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball.
  • ## (label) A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound.
  • #
  • ## A machine element which reads or writes electromagnetic signals to or from a storage medium.
  • #
  • ## (label) The part of a disk drive responsible for reading and writing data.
  • ## (label) The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs.
  • # The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages.
  • # (label) The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel.
  • # Deposits near the top of a geological succession.
  • # (label) The end of an abscess where pus collects.
  • # (label) The headstock of a guitar.
  • # (label) A leading component.
  • ## The top edge of a sail.
  • ## The bow of a vessel.
  • # (label) A headland.
  • A leader or expert.
  • # The place of honour, or of command; the most important or foremost position; the front.
  • #* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • an army of fourscore thousand troops, with the duke Marlborough at the head of them
  • # Leader; chief; mastermind.
  • #* , chapter=7
  • , title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5535161W Mr. Pratt's Patients] , passage=“I don't know how you and the ‘head ,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery.
  • # A headmaster or headmistress.
  • # A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop.
  • A significant or important part.
  • # A beginning or end, a protuberance.
  • ## The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it.
  • #
  • ## A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum.
  • #
  • ##* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=[http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/david-van-tassel David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan]
  • , title=[http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2013/3/wild-plants-to-the-rescue Wild Plants to the Rescue] , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • ### An ear of wheat, barley, or other small cereal.
  • ## (label) The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint.
  • ## (label) The toilet of a ship.
  • #
  • ## (label) Tiles laid at the eaves of a house.
  • #
    (Knight)
  • # A component.
  • ## (label) The principal melody or theme of a piece.
  • ## (linguistics) A morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member.
  • Headway; progress.
  • Topic; subject.
  • (label) Denouement; crisis.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Ere foul sin, gathering head , shall break into corruption.
  • * (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • The indisposition which has long hung upon me, is at last grown to such a head , that it must quickly make an end of me or of itself.
  • (label) Pressure and energy.
  • # A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head.
  • # The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point.
  • # More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight.
  • (slang, uncountable) Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.
  • (slang) The glans penis.
  • (slang, countable) A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs.
  • * 1936 , Lee Duncan, Over The Wall , Dutton
  • Then I saw the more advanced narcotic addicts, who shot unbelievable doses of powerful heroin in the main line – the vein of their arms; the hysien users; chloroform sniffers, who belonged to the riff-raff element of the dope chippeys, who mingled freely with others of their kind; canned heat stiffs, paragoric hounds, laudanum fiends, and last but not least, the veronal heads .
  • *
  • * 2005 , Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home , Simon & Schuster, page 177,
  • The hutch now looks like a “Turkish bath,” and the heads have their arms around one another, passing the pipe and snapping their fingers as they sing Smokey Robinson's “Tracks of My Tears” into the night.
  • (label) Power; armed force.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head .
    (Jonathan Swift)

    See also

    Image:Human head and brain diagram.svg, The human head . Image:Milk thistle flowerhead.jpg, A flower head . Image:Ikeya-zhang-comet-by-rhemann.png, Head of a comet. Image:MUO GTMO 2003.png, Head of the line. Image:Arrow and spear heads - from-DC1.jpg, Arrow and spear heads . Image:Head of a hammer.jpg, Head of a hammer. Image:Meetpunt.jpg, Head of a metal spike. Image:Hip_replacement_Image_3684-PH.jpg, Head of the hip bone. Image:MV Doulos in Keelung-2.jpg, Head of a ship. Image:Mainsail-edges.png, Head of a sail. Image:Diffuser Head.jpg, Head of a pressurized cylinder. Image:Malossi 70cc Morini cylinder head.jpg, Head of a two-stroke engine. Image:Hydraulic head.PNG, Hydraulic head between two points. Image:Floppy disk drive read-write head.jpg, A read-write head . Image:Fender Telecaster Head.jpg, Head of a guitar. Image:Drumhead.jpg, Head of a drum.

    Synonyms

    * (part of the body) caput; (slang) noggin, (slang) loaf, (slang) nut, (slang) noodle, (slang) bonce * (mental aptitude or talent) mind * (mental or emotional control) composure, poise * (topmost part of anything) top * (leader) boss, chief, leader * (sense) headmaster (m), headmistress (f), principal (US) * (toilet of a ship) lavatory, toilet * (top of a sail) * (foam on carbonated beverages) * (fellatio) blowjob, blow job, fellatio, oral sex * (end of tool used for striking) * (blunt end of fastener) * See also

    Antonyms

    * (topmost part of anything) base, bottom, underside * (leader) subordinate, underling * (blunt end of fastener) point, sharp end, tip

    Usage notes

    * To give something its head is to allow it to run freely. This is used for horses, and, sometimes, figuratively for vehicles.

    Derived terms

    * -head * bed head * big head, bighead * by a head * cool head * crackhead, crack head * crosshead * deadhead * deaths-head * death’s-head * dickhead * do someone's head in * drum head * dunderhead * get one's head around * give head * go to someone's head * hard head * have a head for * have one's head read * head and shoulders * headache * headbang * head bang * headbanger * headboard * headbutt * headcarry * headcase * head case * head cold * headcount * * headdress * header * headfirst * headgear * headhunt * heading * headlight * headless * headlock * headlong * headly * head up * heads up * head off * head over heels * headphone * headpiece * headquarter * headquarters * headrest * headroom * heads * headshunt * headscarf * headstand * headstart * headstone * headstrong * heads will roll * head to head * head to wind * head trip * headwear * headwind * hit the head * hold one’s head high * hophead * keep one’s head * keep one's head above water * keep one's head below the parapet * level-headed * lose one's head * lose one's head if it wasn't attached * overhead * pinhead * pisshead * print head * rail head * redhead * shake one's head * showerhead * snap someone's head off * strawhead * turk’s head * turn heads * turn someone's head * you can't put an old head on young shoulders

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of, relating to, or intended for the head.
  • Foremost in rank or importance.
  • * , chapter=19
  • , title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL1097634W The Mirror and the Lamp] , passage=At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.}}
  • Placed at the top or the front.
  • Coming from in front.
  • Synonyms

    * (foremost in rank or importance) chief, principal * (placed at the top or the front) first, top

    Antonyms

    * (coming from in front) tail

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be in command of. (See also head up.)
  • Who heads the board of trustees?
    to head an army, an expedition, or a riot
  • To strike with the head; as in soccer, to head the ball
  • To move in a specified direction.
  • We are going to head up''' North for our holiday. We will '''head off''' tomorrow. Next holiday we will '''head out''' West, or '''head to''' Chicago. Right now I need to '''head into town to do some shopping.
    I'm fed up working for a boss. I'm going to head out on my own, set up my own business.
    How does the ship head ?
  • (fishing) To remove the head from a fish.
  • The salmon are first headed and then scaled.
  • To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.
  • * Adair
  • A broad river, that heads in the great Blue Ridge.
  • To form a head.
  • This kind of cabbage heads early.
  • *
  • To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head.
  • to head a nail
    (Spenser)
  • To cut off the top of; to lop off.
  • to head trees
  • (obsolete) To behead; to decapitate.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • To go in front of; to get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose; hence, to check or restrain.
  • to head''' a drove of cattle; to '''head''' a person; the wind '''heads a ship
  • To set on the head.
  • to head a cask

    Derived terms

    * head for the hills

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * (l), (l) 1000 English basic words ----

    front

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (senseid)The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.
  • The side of a building with the main entrance.
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned,
  • A field of activity.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
  • , author=Stephen Ledoux, volume=100, issue=1, page=60, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Behaviorism at 100 , passage=Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.}}
  • A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group.
  • (meteorology) The interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation. Since the temperature distribution is the most important regulator of atmospheric density, a front almost invariably separates airmasses of different temperature.
  • (military) An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact.
  • (military) The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank.
  • (military) The direction of the enemy.
  • (military) When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced.
  • (obsolete) A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army.
  • (informal) An act, show, , persona: an intentional and false impression of oneself.
  • * Shakespeare
  • with smiling fronts encountering
  • * Macaulay
  • The inhabitants showed a bold front .
  • (historical) That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women.
  • * Elizabeth Browning
  • like any plain Miss Smith's, who wears a front
  • The most conspicuous part.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the very head and front of my offending
  • (obsolete) The beginning.
  • * Shakespeare
  • summer's front
  • (UK) a seafront or coastal promenade.
  • (obsolete) The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Bless'd with his father's front , his mother's tongue.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front .
  • * Prior
  • His front yet threatens, and his frowns command.

    Synonyms

    * (l)

    Antonyms

    * back * rear

    Derived terms

    * active front * arctic front * battlefront * beachfront * back to front/back-to-front * bowfront * breakfront * cold front * common front * company front * confront * fly front * forefront * frontage * frontal * front and center * front bench/frontbench * front bottom * front burner * frontcourt * front crawl * front door * front drive * front end/front-end * front-facing * front fee * front foot * front grant * front group * frontispiece * frontless * frontlet * frontline/front line * front load * front man * front matter * front money * frontmost * front name * frontness * front nine * front office * front of house * front of the house * front organization * front page * front porch * front projector * front range * front ring * front room * front row * front runner * front running * front stall/front-stall * front teeth * front vowel * front wall * frontward * frontwards * front-wheel drive * frontwise * front yard * home front * in front * in front of * lakefront * occluded front * oceanfront * out-front * polar front * popular front * riverfront * seafront * shirtfront * shock front * shop front/shopfront * shorefront * stationary front * storefront * up front/upfront * warm front * waterfront * weather front * Y-fronts * zip-front

    Hyponyms

    * (The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves) (nautical) (of a ship)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Located at or near the front.
  • The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.
  • (comparable, phonetics) Of a vowel pronounced near the tip of the tongue.
  • Synonyms

    * (located near the front) first, lead, fore

    Antonyms

    * (located near the front) back, last, rear * (of a vowel) back

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (dated) To face (on, to); to be pointed in a given direction.
  • *
  • *:The great gate fronting to the north was about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily creep.
  • *1939 , (Raymond Chandler), The Big Sleep , Penguin, 2011, p.35:
  • *:The door fronted on a narrow run, like a footbridge over a gully, that filled the gap between the house wall and the edge of the bank.
  • *1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam, 2011, p.312:
  • *:They emerged atop the broad curving steps that fronted on the Street of the Sisters, near the foot of Visenya's Hill.
  • *2010 , Ingrid D Rowland, "The Siege of Rome", New York Review of Books , Blog, 26 March:
  • *:The palazzo has always fronted on a bus stop—but this putative man of the people has kindly put an end to that public service.
  • To face, be opposite to.
  • *1749 , (John Cleland), Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure , Penguin, 1985, p.66:
  • *:After saluting her, he led her to a couch that fronted us, where they both sat down, and the young Genoese helped her to a glass of wine, with some Naples biscuit on a salver.
  • *1813 , (Jane Austen), Pride and Prejudice :
  • *:down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted the lane, in quest of this wonder; it was two ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the garden gate.
  • *1913 , (DH Lawrence), Sons and Lovers , Penguin, 2006, p.49:
  • *:She sat on a seat under the alders in the cricket ground, and fronted the evening.
  • To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.
  • *, II.6:
  • *:those that have willed to attaine to some greater excellence, have not beene content, at home, and at rest to expect the rigors of fortune; but have rather gone to meet and front her before, and witting-earnestly cast themselves to the triall of the hardest difficulties.
  • *1623 , (William Shakespeare), King Henry IV, Part 2 :
  • *:What well-appointed leader fronts us here?
  • To adorn the front of; to put on the front.
  • *2001 , (Terry Goodkind), The Pillars of Creation , p.148:
  • *:Three tiers of balconies fronted with roped columns supporting arched openings looked down on the marble hall.
  • (phonetics, transitive, intransitive) To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.
  • *2005 , Paul Skandera / Peter Burleigh, A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology , p.48:
  • *:The velar plosives are often fronted through the influence of a following front vowel, and retracted through the influence of a following back vowel.
  • (linguistics) To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence.
  • (slang) To act as a front (for); to cover (for).
  • *2007 , Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher , p.183:
  • *:Everybody knew Skopas fronted for the fight mob even though he was officially the arena manager.
  • To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).
  • *2009 September 1, Mark Sweney, The Guardian :
  • *:Ray Winstone is fronting a campaign for the Football Association that aims to stop pushy parents shouting abuse at their children during the grassroots football season.
  • (colloquial) To provide money or financial assistance in advance to.
  • *2004 , (Danielle Steele), Ransom , p.104:
  • *:I'm prepared to say that I fronted you the money for a business deal with me, and the investment paid off brilliantly.
  • To assume false or disingenuous appearances.
  • *'>citation
  • *2008 , Briscoe/Akinyemi, ‘Womanizer’:
  • *:Boy don't try to front , / I-I know just-just what you are, are-are.
  • *2008 Markus Naerheim, The City , p.531
  • *:You know damned straight what this is about, or you ain't as smart as you been frontin' .
  • To appear before, as in to front court.
  • Synonyms

    * (assume false appearances) put on airs, feign

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----