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dead⋅head

  [ded-hed] Informal.
Use deadhead in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person who attends a performance, sports event, etc., or travels on a train, airplane, etc., without having paid for a ticket, esp. 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), esp. in flower gardens, often to help continued blooming.
–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. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To deadhead
dead·head   (děd'hěd')   
n.  
  1. A person who uses a free ticket for admittance, accommodation, or entertainment.
  2. A vehicle, such as an aircraft, that transports no passengers or freight during a trip.
  3. A person regarded as dull-witted or sluggish.
  4. A partially submerged log or trunk.
v.   dead·head·ed, dead·head·ing, dead·heads

v.   tr.
  1. To pilot or drive (a vehicle) carrying no passengers or freight.
  2. To pull (dead or dying blossoms) off a flower.
v.   intr.
  1. To make a trip without passengers or freight: "The instruments were out, and it meant they had to deadhead back on another airplane" (Walter J. Boyne).
  2. To bypass a senior employee in order to promote a more junior employee.
adv.  Without passengers or freight; empty.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Deadhead

Dead"head`\, n. 1. One who receives free tickets for theaters, public conveyances, etc. [Colloq. U. S.]

2. (Naut.) A buoy. See under Dead, a.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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