Learn the words you need to communicate with confidence. I can"t get that tune/that man out of my head (= I cannot stop hearing the tune in my mind/thinking about that man). the part of a tape or video recorder (= machine for recording sound or pictures) that touches the tape to record and play music, speech, etc. The head is the most important word in a phrase. All the other words in a phrase depend on the head. Words which are part of the phrase and which come before the head are called the pre-head. Words which are part of the phrase and which come after the head are called the post-head. … If you’d just use your head (= think clearly and carefully), you would realize that you are better off living where you are. If you are a single parent, you can reduce your tax liability by filing as a head of household with a dependent child. cost/price/spend per head The region saw incomes per head fall by an average 4 per cent a year over the past decade. The airline offered maximum compensation of £150 a head to anyone whose flight was disrupted by the strike action.
The dangers of identity theft are clear but many companies still choose to bury their heads in the sand and act only after there has been a security breach. if a difficult situation comes to a head, or someone brings it to a head, it reaches a stage when someone must take strong action to deal with it: The row came to a head when the US imposed one billion dollars in taxes on a whole range of consumer goods. The chairman intends to keep his head down until his disagreement with the serious fraud office is settled. He was furious that staff had gone over his head to try and implement departmental changes without his approval. if you compete head on with another business, you offer the same products or services and each try to be more successful than the other: used to say that people are likely to be punished or lose their jobs because of something they have done: Sources close to the bank have denied suggestions that heads will roll following the huge losses reported this week. to try to manage a difficult situation, especially when it involves a lot of work or a lack of money: The business has lurched from one financial crisis to another but we have managed to keep our heads above water. If we want to remain competitive, we"d better put our heads together and come up with new ways of reaching our market. be headed for/towards sth The corporate bond market is heading for its worst year in a decade as prices continue to fall. if share prices or currencies head north, they increase in value, and if they head south, they lose value: Perhaps, moreover, a case can be made for saying that philosophical understanding is advanced, not by solving problems head-on, but by moving around them. The authors suggest that representations from one participant"s head are aligned directly with those from the other participant"s head.