HEAD - 18 reference results
head-hunting, practice of taking and preserving the head of a slain enemy. It has occurred throughout the world from ancient times into the 20th cent. In Europe, it flourished in the Balkans until the early 20th cent. The practice often has magico-religious motives. Head-hunting tribes usually believe that there is soul matter concentrated in the head; taking the head of an enemy not only adds to the totality of soul matter in one's community, it also weakens the power of the enemy. As a particularly gruesome symbol of victory, such trophies may also intimidate enemies and potential enemies. In addition, heads are secured as tokens of courage and manhood. In many societies, young men are allowed to marry only after they have taken their first head, and for each trophy they may wear a distinctive feather or special tattoo. In some parts of the world, notably among the natives of North America, the scalp alone was taken (see scalping), and the hair was often used in the making of amulets (see amulet). Heads may be mummified in various ways, as in New Guinea, where both skull and skin are preserved, or among the Jívaro of South America, where the skin alone is preserved to produce a so-called shrunken head. An increase in head-hunting and concomitant warfare is often associated with the penetration of Westerners who like to buy and collect these trophies. See also cannibalism.
See M. Harner, The Jivaro (1972).
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West Quoddy Head, promontory extending into the Atlantic Ocean, SE Maine, SE of Lubec; the easternmost point in the continental United States. A lighthouse is there.
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Indian Head, town (1991 pop. 1,827), SE Sask., Canada, E of Regina. In a wheat-growing region, it has flour mills and grain elevators. A dominion experimental and forestry farm is in the town.
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Head, Sir Francis Bond, 1793-1875, British administrator in Canada. A soldier (1811-25) and unsuccessful mining adventurer in South America, he had had little experience to prepare him for the post of lieutenant governor of Upper Canada (Ontario), to which he was appointed in 1835. Sir Francis's reactionary policy in Canada and his alliance with the Family Compact estranged Robert Baldwin and the moderate reformers and drove William Lyon Mackenzie and other radical reformers into open rebellion in 1837. Head, who had resigned but had not yet been replaced in his post, quelled this uprising. He left Canada in 1838, never again to hold public office, and devoted his later years to writing.
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Head, Sir Edmund Walker, 1805-68, British governor-general of Canada (1854-61), cousin of Sir Francis Bond Head. An Oxford scholar and tutor, he published several books. His success as lieutenant governor of New Brunswick (1848-54) led to his appointment as governor-general of Canada in 1854. He faced difficult problems during his administration, primarily caused by the antagonism between French and British inhabitants, but he retired from office before the political issues that led to confederation (1867) reached a peak.
See biography by D. G. Kerr (1954).
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Head, Richard, c.1637-c.1686, English writer. His best-known work is The English Rogue (1665), a collection of crude picaresque stories. Sequels to this work were written by Francis Kirkman. Among his other fictional biographies of rogues are Floating Island (1673) and The Life and Death of Mother Shipton (1677).
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Head, Edith, 1907-81, American costume designer, b. Los Angeles, Calif. She began to design costumes for the motion pictures in the early 1930s, working at Paramount for most of her career and moving to Universal in 1967. She won eight Academy Awards for a variety of films, including The Heiress (1949), All about Eve (1950), Samson and Delilah (1951), A Place in the Sun (1952), Roman Holiday (1954), and The Sting (1973). She was responsible for such classic bits of costumery as Mae West's ostrich feathers, Dorothy Lamour's sarongs, and Audrey Hepburn's Sabrina necklines.
See her autobiography, Fashion as a Career (1966); biography by D. Chierichetti (2003).
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Head, Bessie, 1937-86, South African writer. Born in South Africa to a white mother and black father, she was placed in foster homes and orphanages as a child. After 1964, she lived in exile in Botswana. Her candid writing voiced her strong concerns about racism, economic stagnation, and the status of women in her adopted country. Her novels include A Question of Power (1973), Maru (1971), and A Bewitched Crossroad: An African Saga (1984); a collection of stories, The Collector of Treasures (1977), and the acclaimed oral histories Serowe: The Village of the Rain Wind (1981).
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Head Start, U.S. educational program for disadvantaged preschool children, established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Aimed initially only at poor children, its purpose was to organize programs that would prepare preschool children for elementary school. Money was appropriated through the Office of Economic Opportunity, which made individual grants to cities and other localities to set up Head Start centers. In 1969 the program was transferred to the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare (now Health and Human Services). It was later extended to children above the poverty level, whose parents, however, had to pay according to their income.
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Flamborough Head, chalk promontory, East Riding of Yorkshire, E England, N of Bridlington Bay. There is a lighthouse at the tip. Danes' Dyke (an ancient earthwork fortification) crosses the peninsula. The chalk cliffs are wave-carved into caves and stacks and are inhabited by flocks of seafowl.
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Dunnet Head, sandstone promontory, 341 ft (104 m) high, Highland, NE Scotland. It is the northern extremity of the Scottish mainland.
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Duncansby Head or Duncansbay Head, sandstone cliff, 210 ft (64 m) high, Highland, NE Scotland. It is the northeastern extremity of the Scottish mainland.
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Duncansbay Head: see Duncansby Head.
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Diamond Head, peak, 761 ft (232 m) high, along the rim of an extinct volcano, SE Oahu island, Hawaii. A prominent point in the Honolulu skyline, Diamond Head was designated a national natural landmark to protect its slopes from the commercial development along world-famous Waikiki Beach. U.S. Fort Ruger is at the northern end of the crater's floor. The crater was the site of an ancient Hawaiian burial ground.
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Beachy Head, high chalk cliffs (575 ft/175 m), on the south coast of East Sussex, S England. The battle of Beachy Head, in the War of the Grand Alliance, was fought (1690) between an Anglo-Dutch fleet under the earl of Torrington and the French fleet under the comte de Tourville. Although the French won, they failed to exploit their victory over the damaged opponent to deal a decisive blow to Anglo-Dutch seapower. Torrington, meanwhile, was court-martialed for retreating but, arguing that his action prevented an invasion, was acquitted.
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(born Oct. 28, 1897, San Bernardino, Calif., U.S.—died Oct. 24, 1981, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. costume designer. She became chief designer at Paramount Pictures in 1933 and later worked at Universal. Hollywood's best-known designer, she was noted for the wide range of her costumes, from the elegantly simple to the elaborately flamboyant. She won a record eight Academy Awards for her work in films such as All About Eve (1950), Roman Holiday (1953), and The Sting (1973).
Learn more about Head, Edith with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Cape, northeastern Scotland. A rounded headland, it is the northernmost point of the Scottish mainland, jutting into the North Sea. It is crowned by a lighthouse, 346 ft (105 m) high, built in 1831.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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