English Explanatory Dictionary

headsman

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A chief person; a head man
  2. An executioner whose method of dispatching the condemned is decapitation.
  3. A labourer in a colliery who transports the coal from the workings to the horseway, and who is oftentimes assisted by a younger worker called a foal.
  4. One in command of a whaling vessel.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-headsman.wav

Word forms

headsman headsmen

Etymology

From Middle English heddysman, equivalent to head + -s- + -man. Cognate with Scots hedisman, heidisman (“head man; chief; commander”). Compare also Danish høvedsmand (“captain”), Swedish hövitsman (“captain”), Icelandic höfuðsmaður (“captain”), German Hauptmann (“captain”).

Synonyms

beheader decapitator
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