Advertisement

View synonyms for deadhead

deadhead

[ ded-hed ]

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)

  1. to transport (someone) as a deadhead.
  2. to move (an empty commercial vehicle) along a route.
  3. Horticulture. to remove faded blooms from (ornamental plants), especially in flower gardens, often to help continued blooming.

verb (used without object)

  1. to act or serve as a deadhead.
  2. (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.

deadhead

/ ˈdɛdˌhɛd /

noun

  1. a dull unenterprising person
  2. a person who uses a free ticket, as for a train, the theatre, etc
  3. a train, etc, travelling empty
  4. a totally or partially submerged log floating in a lake, etc


verb

  1. tr to cut off withered flowers from (a plant)
  2. intr to drive an empty bus, train, etc

Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of deadhead1

First recorded in 1570–80; dead + head

Discover More

Example Sentences

At first, a lot of people familiar with Walton’s image as an aging progressive and Deadhead expected him to be trashing the mayor for cruel enforcement and clean-up efforts directed at homeless encampments.

The program would determine contractors’ routes, ideally cutting down on “deadhead miles,” or miles driven without a load of mail, and miles where trucks traveled with less-than-full trailers.

“The world perceives cannabis consumers as deadhead, unemployed people—our mission is to change that,” says Defalco.

What we should do, we knew, was to deadhead our horses back into the Park as soon as they had had a little rest.

It was said that a deadhead could not borrow a sheet of writing paper in the capitol, nor in a county court-house.

The farmer's features did not conceal his disgust when he discovered that his seat-mate was a deadhead.

You'll be a deadhead yourself if you ain't careful, young feller!

Two people I know, they just went deadhead for ten thousand years!

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


dead handDead Heart