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/ˈkæthɛd/ · noun
A heavy piece of timber projecting somewhat horizontally from each side of the bow of a ship on which an anchor is raised or lowered, and secured when not used, from its stock end..
"Hurrah, for the last time," said the mate; and the anchor came to the cat-head to the tune of "Time for us to go," with a loud chorus. Everything was done quick, as though it were for the last time.
The cat-heads had burned away, and the two red-hot anchors had gone to the bottom, tearing out after them two hundred fathom of red-hot chain.
A piece of a ferruginous ſtoney Nodule having in it 3 Leaves of a capillary Plant […] Theſe Nodules, vvith Leaves in them, are called Catheads, and ſeem to conſiſt of a ſort of Iron-Stone, not unlike that vvhich is found very plentifully at Robinshood's-Bay in Yorkſhire, and in the Rocks near VVhitehaven in Cumberland: vvhere they there call 'em Cat-Scaups, and are frequently melted vvith the ſofter Iron-Ores.
The trick to eating catheads was to get the butter on them before they got cold—then they were delicious. When, unluckily, they were allowed to get cold, they tended to a gooeyness, not unlike a wad of tired gum.
[T]he whole canvass of the ship was loosed, and with the greatest rapidity possible, everything was sheeted home and hoisted up, the anchor tripped and catheaded, and the ship under headway.
Use cathead when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Cathead means A heavy piece of timber projecting somewhat horizontally from each side of the bow of a ship on which an anchor is raised or lowered, and secured when not used, from its stock end..
Common synonyms include cat.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
"Hurrah, for the last time," said the mate; and the anchor came to the cat-head to the tune of "Time for us to go," with a loud chorus. Everything was done quick, as though it were for the last time.
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