different between head vs master

English

Alternative forms

• heed (obsolete), hed (obsolete)
• 'ead (UK, eye dialect)

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?d, IPA^(key): /h?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Etymology 1

From Middle English hed, heed, heved, heaved, from Old English h?afod (“head; top; source, origin; chief, leader; capital”), from Proto-Germanic *haubud? (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *káput-.

Noun

head (countable and uncountable, plural heads or head)

1. (countable) The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
   1. (people) To do with heads.
      1. Mental or emotional aptitude or skill.

      2. (figuratively, metonymically) Mind; one's own thoughts.
      3. A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication.
      4. A headdress; a covering for the head.

      5. (figuratively, metonymically) An individual person.
   2. (animals) To do with heads.
      1. (plural head, measure word for livestock and game) A single animal.

      2. The population of game.

      3. The antlers of a deer.
2. (countable) The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
   1. The end of a table.
      1. The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor.

      2. (billiards) The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked.
   2. (countable) The principal operative part of a machine or tool.
      1. The end of a hammer, axe, golf club, or similar implement used for striking other objects.
      2. The end of a nail, screw, bolt, or similar fastener which is opposite the point; usually blunt and relatively wide.

      3. The sharp end of an arrow, spear, or pointer.

      4. (lacrosse) The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball.
      5. (music) A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound.

      6. A machine element which reads or writes electromagnetic signals to or from a storage medium.

      7. (computing) The part of a disk drive responsible for reading and writing data.
      8. (automotive) The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs.
   3. (uncountable, countable) The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages.

      He never learned how to pour a glass of beer so it didn't have too much head.

   4. (engineering) The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel.
   5. (Britain, geology) Deposits near the top of a geological succession.
   6. (journalism) Short for headline.
      • 1968, Earl English, ?Clarence Hach, Scholastic Journalism (page 166)

        The content of a headline over a news story should be taken from the lead of the story. […] The head should give the same impression as the body of the story.

   7. (medicine) The end of an abscess where pus collects.
   8. (music) The headstock of a guitar.
   9. (nautical) A leading component.
      1. The top edge of a sail.
      2. The bow of a vessel.
   10. (Britain) A headland.
3. (social, countable, metonymically) A leader or expert.
   1. The place of honour, or of command; the most important or foremost position; the front.
   2. (metonymically) Leader; chief; mastermind.
   3. (metonymically) A headmaster or headmistress.
      • 1992 June 24, Edwina Currie, Diary:

        At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...'
        
        She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking.
        
        As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted.

   4. (music, slang, figuratively, metonymically) A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop.

4. A significant or important part.
   1. A beginning or end, a protuberance.
      1. The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it.

      2. A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum.
         1. An ear of wheat, barley, or other small cereal.
         2. The leafy top part of a tree.
      3. (anatomy) The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint.
      4. (nautical) The toilet of a ship.

      5. (in the plural) Tiles laid at the eaves of a house.
         • 1875, Edward H. Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, vol. II, page 1086

           Heads. (Roofing.) Tiles which are laid at the eaves of a house

   2. A component.
      1. (jazz) The principal melody or theme of a piece.
      2. (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.
5. Headway; progress.

6. Topic; subject.

7. (only in the singular) Denouement; crisis.
   • 1712 October 18, anonymous letter in The Spectator, edited by Joseph Addison, no. 513, collected in The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq, Birmingham: John Baskerville, published 1761, volume IV, page 10:

     THE indi?po?ition which has long hung upon me, is at la?t grown to ?uch an head, that it mu?t quickly make an end of me, or of it?elf.

8. (fluid dynamics) Pressure and energy.
   1. (uncountable, countable) A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head.

      How much head do you have at the Glens Falls feeder dam?

   2. The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point.
   3. More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight.
9. (slang, uncountable) Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.

10. (slang) The glans penis.
11. (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.

12. (obsolete) Power; armed force.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:head.

Gallery

Synonyms

• (part of the body): caput (anatomy); pate, noggin (slang), loaf (slang), nut (slang), noodle (slang), bonce (British slang)
• (mental aptitude or talent): mind
• (mental or emotional control): composure, poise
• (topmost part of anything): top
• (leader): boss, chief, leader
• (headmaster, headmistress): headmaster m, headmistress f, principal (US)
• (toilet of a ship): See Thesaurus:toilet and Thesaurus:bathroom
• (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 Thesaurus:head

Antonyms

• (topmost part of anything): base, bottom, underside, foot, tail
• (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

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (heddo)
• Sranan Tongo: ede

Translations

See head/translations § Noun.

Adjective

head (not comparable)

1. Of, relating to, or intended for the head.

Translations

Verb

head (third-person singular simple present heads, present participle heading, simple past and past participle headed)

2. (transitive) To be in command of. (See also head up.)

3. (transitive) To come at the beginning of; to commence.

   A group of clowns headed the procession.

   The most important items headed the list.

4. (transitive) To strike with the head; as in soccer, to head the ball
5. (intransitive) To move in a specified direction.

6. (fishing) To remove the head from a fish.

7. (intransitive) To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.
   • 1775, James Adair, The History of the American Indians, page 223

     a broad purling river, that heads in the great blue ridge of mountains,
8. (intransitive) To form a head.
9. (transitive) To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

10. (transitive) To cut off the top of; to lop off.

11. (transitive, obsolete) To behead; to decapitate.
    • 1822, Allan Cunningham, "Ezra Peden", in Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry, v. 1, p. 37.

      I tell thee, man of God, the uncharitableness of the sect to which thou pertainest has thronged the land of punishment as much as those who headed, and hanged, and stabbed, and shot, and tortured.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

12. To go in front of.

13. To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.

14. (by extension) To check or restrain.
15. To set on the head.

Derived terms

Translations

Related terms

• ahead
• knucklehead
• railhead
• smackhead

Etymology 2

From Middle English hed, heved, heaved, hæfedd, from Old English h?afod- (“principal, main, primary”), from Proto-Germanic *haubuda-, *haubida-, from Proto-Indo-European *kauput-, *káput- (“head”). Compare Saterland Frisian hööft-, West Frisian haad-, Dutch hoofd-, German Low German höövd-, German haupt-.

Adjective

head (not comparable)

1. Foremost in rank or importance.

2. Placed at the top or the front.
3. 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

Translations

Anagrams

• DHEA, ahed, hade

Estonian

Adjective

head

1. inflection of hea:
   1. partitive singular
   2. plural

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Geordie) IPA^(key): /?m??st?/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /?mast?/
• (General American) enPR: m?s?t?r, IPA^(key): /?mæst?/
• Rhymes: -??st?(?), -æst?(?)
• Hyphenation: mas?ter

Etymology 1

From Middle English maister, mayster, meister, from Old English m?ster, mæ?ster, mæ?ester, mæ?ister, magister (“master”), from Latin magister (“chief, teacher, leader”), from Old Latin magester, from Proto-Indo-European *mé?h?s, (as in magnus (“great”)) + -ester/-ister (compare minister (“servant”)). Reinforced by Old French maistre, mestre from the same Latin source. Compare also Saterland Frisian Mäster (“master”), West Frisian master (“master”), Dutch meester (“master”), German Meister (“master”). Doublet of maestro and magister.

Alternative forms

• mester (dialectal), mister (dialectal)
• mastre (obsolete)
• Master
• Massa, massa, massah, masta, Mastah, mastah, mastuh (eye dialect)

Noun

master (plural masters, feminine mistress)

1. Someone who has control over something or someone.
   • 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides

     We are masters of the sea.
2. The owner of an animal or slave.
3. (nautical) The captain of a merchant ship; a master mariner.

   Synonyms: skipper, captain

4. (dated) The head of a household.
5. Someone who employs others.
6. An expert at something.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:skilled person

   • No care is taken to improve young men in their own language, that they may thoroughly understand and be masters of it.

7. A tradesman who is qualified to teach apprentices.
8. (dated) A schoolmaster.
9. A skilled artist.
10. (dated) A man or a boy; mister. See Master.
    • 1731, Jonathan Swift, Directions to Servants

      Where there are little Ma?ters and Mi??es in a Hou?e, they are u?ually great Impediments to the Diver?ions of the Servants;

11. A master's degree; a type of postgraduate degree, usually undertaken after a bachelor degree.

    Synonyms: masters, master's, (Quebec English) magistrate

12. A person holding such a degree.

13. The original of a document or of a recording.

14. (film) The primary wide shot of a scene, into which the closeups will be edited later.

    Synonyms: establishing shot, long shot

15. (law) A parajudicial officer (such as a referee, an auditor, an examiner, or an assessor) specially appointed to help a court with its proceedings.

16. (engineering, computing) A device that is controlling other devices or is an authoritative source.

    Synonym: primary

    Antonyms: secondary, slave

17. (freemasonry) A person holding an office of authority, especially the presiding officer.
18. (by extension) A person holding a similar office in other civic societies.

Hyponyms

• mistress (feminine-specific form)

Derived terms

Pages starting with “master”.

Descendants

Related terms

• mistress (feminine form of "master")

Translations

See also

• journeyman
• apprentice

Adjective

master (not comparable)

1. Masterful.

2. Main, principal or predominant.
3. Highly skilled.

4. Original.

Translations

Verb

master (third-person singular simple present masters, present participle mastering, simple past and past participle mastered)

1. (intransitive) To be a master.
2. (transitive) To become the master of; to subject to one's will, control, or authority; to conquer; to overpower; to subdue.

   • Obstinacy and willful neglects must be mastered, even though it cost blows.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     Then Elzevir cried out angrily, 'Silence. Are you mad, or has the liquor mastered you? Are you Revenue-men that you dare shout and roister? or contrabandiers with the lugger in the offing, and your life in your hand. You make noise enough to wake folk in Moonfleet from their beds.'

3. (transitive) To learn to a high degree of proficiency.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To own; to possess.
5. (transitive, especially of a musical performance) To make a master copy of.
6. (intransitive, usually with in) To earn a Master's degree.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

mast +? -er

Noun

master (plural masters)

1. (nautical, in combination) A vessel having a specified number of masts.

Translations

Anagrams

• 'maters, Amster, METARs, Stream, armest, armets, mastre, maters, matres, metras, ramets, ramset, remast, stream, tamers, tremas, trémas

Finnish

Noun

master

1. (BDSM) (male) dom

Declension

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English master. Doublet of maître, inherited from Latin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mas.t??/

Noun

master m (plural masters)

1. master's degree, master's (postgraduate degree)
2. master (golf tournament)
3. master, master copy

Further reading

• “master” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• trames, trémas

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch master, from English master, from Middle English maister, mayster, meister, from Old English m?ster, mæ?ster, mæ?ester, mæ?ister, magister (“master”), from Latin magister (“chief, teacher, leader”), from Old Latin magester, from Proto-Indo-European *mé?h?s, (as in magnus (“great”)) + -ester/-ister (compare minister (“servant”)). Doublet of magister and mester.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?mast??r]
• Hyphenation: mas?têr

Noun

master (plural master-master, first-person possessive masterku, second-person possessive mastermu, third-person possessive masternya)

1. master:
   1. someone who has control over something or someone.
   2. an expert at something.
   3. the original of a document or of a recording.
   4. (education) a master's degree; a type of postgraduate degree, usually undertaken after a bachelor degree.

      Synonym: magister

Affixed terms

Compounds

Further reading

• “master” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

master m or f

1. indefinite plural of mast

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From English master. Doublet of magister.

Noun

master m (definite singular masteren, indefinite plural masterar, definite plural masterane)

1. a master's degree
2. a master's thesis
3. a person that has a master's degree
4. original document or recording

Etymology 2

Noun

master f (definite singular mastra or mastri, indefinite plural mastrer, definite plural mastrene)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2012; superseded by mast

Etymology 3

Noun

master f

1. indefinite plural of mast

References

• “master” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• m?ster
• m?stere, m?stere

Etymology

Borrowed from Vulgar Latin *maester, from Latin magister. Cognates include Old English mæ?ester and Old Saxon m?star.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ma?ster/

Noun

m?ster m

1. master
2. leader
3. commissioner

Inflection

Descendants

• Saterland Frisian: Mäster
• West Frisian: master

Derived terms

• M?ster

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, ?ISBN, page 28

Swedish

Noun

master

1. indefinite plural of mast

Anagrams

• smarte, smetar

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

master c (plural masters, diminutive masterke)

1. master

Derived terms

• boargemaster

Further reading

• “master”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011