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Deadhead

 [ded-hed]   Origin

dead·head

   [ded-hed] Informal.
noun
1.
a person who attends a performance, sports event, etc., or travels on a train, airplane, etc., without having paid for a ticket, especially a person using a complimentary ticket or free pass.
2.
a train, railroad car, airplane, truck, or other commercial vehicle while operating empty, as when returning to a terminal.
3.
a stupid or boring person; dullard.
4.
Metallurgy. excess metal in the riser of a mold.
5.
a sunken or partially sunken log.
verb (used with object)
6.
to transport (someone) as a deadhead.
7.
to move (an empty commercial vehicle) along a route.
8.
Horticulture. to remove faded blooms from (ornamental plants), especially in flower gardens, often to help continued blooming.

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Deadhead is one of our favorite verbs.
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
to flee; abscond:
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verb (used without object)
9.
to act or serve as a deadhead.
10.
(of a commercial vehicle) to travel without cargo or paying passengers: The train carried coal to Pittsburgh and then deadheaded back to Virginia to pick up another load.
Origin:
1570–80; dead + head
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
deadhead (ˈdɛdˌhɛd)
 
—n
1.  a dull unenterprising person
2.  a person who uses a free ticket, as for a train, the theatre, etc
3.  (US), (Canadian) a train, etc, travelling empty
4.  (US), (Canadian) a totally or partially submerged log floating in a lake, etc
 
—vb
5.  (tr) to cut off withered flowers from (a plant)
6.  (US), (Canadian) (intr) to drive an empty bus, train, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

Deadhead
1970s in sense of "devotee of the band the Grateful Dead;" earlier "train or truck carrying no passengers or freight" (1911) and "non-paying spectator" (1841).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

deadhead definition


  1. n.
    a stupid person. : Wow, are you a deadhead!
  2. tv. & in.
    [for someone] to return an empty truck, train, airplane, etc., to where it came from. : I deadheaded back to Los Angeles.
  3. n.
    a follower of the rock group the Grateful Dead. : My son is a deadhead and travels all over listening to these guys.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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