Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A beam projecting outward from the bow of a ship and used as a support to lift the anchor.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Nautical, to attach to the cat-head.
- noun An attachment to a lathe to assist in supporting long bars when they are being turned.
- noun A large timber or heavyiron beam projecting from each bow of a ship, and having sheaves in its outer end.
- noun In mining, a small capstan.
- noun Nodular or ball ironstone.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) A projecting piece of timber or iron near the bow of vessel, to which the anchor is hoisted and secured.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical A heavy piece of
timber projecting from each side of thebow of aship for holdinganchors which were fitted with astock in position for letting go or for securing after weighing. - noun Similar rigging on the outside of a building.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Rich land, suitable for laying down in grass, is covered with a dense growth of sassafras, tree-fern, musk, and pear tree, with large blue or swamp gums, and an underbush of what are known as cathead ferns.
Australia, The Dairy Country Australia. Dept. of External Affairs
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Stalking glasses and binoculars were levelled at the unconcerned fowl, who sat by the "cathead" with perfect composure, and preened himself after his long flight.
A Holiday in the Happy Valley with Pen and Pencil T. R. Swinburne
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Golden Eagle table syrup is made for a good cathead biscuit.
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Golden Eagle table syrup is made for a good cathead biscuit.
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It is desperately needed for her cathead biscuits and chicken fried anything.
Cream of the gravy crop | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2007
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Her mother would cook all morning — cathead biscuits and turnip greens and flour dumplings and these little cookies that looked like striped flags — and she had this yellow apron and this hat she wore, bright green.
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The dragon is illustrated with a cathead, serpent body, bird or retile feet, and a forked tongue.
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The dragon is illustrated with a cathead, serpent body, bird or retile feet, and a forked tongue.
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The dragon is illustrated with a cathead, serpent body, bird or retile feet, and a forked tongue.
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The dragon is illustrated with a cathead, serpent body, bird or retile feet, and a forked tongue.
reesetee commented on the word cathead
A projection near the bow of a ship to which the anchor is secured.
February 15, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word cathead
"...and when she was moving perhaps as fast as she had ever moved, with her lee cathead well under the foam of her bow-wave, he laid one hand on the hances, feeling the deep note of her hull as he might have felt the vibrations of his fiddle..."
—Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 352
February 23, 2008
knitandpurl commented on the word cathead
"In that case proceed to the cathead at the fore of the ship, as per tradition, and keep an eye on Mr. Tart."
A Burial at Sea by Charles Finch, p 149
January 5, 2012