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loggerhead

 - 4 dictionary results

log⋅ger⋅head

  [law-ger-hed, log-er-]
–noun
1. a thick-headed or stupid person; blockhead.
2. loggerhead turtle.
3. loggerhead shrike.
4. a ball or bulb of iron with a long handle, used, after being heated, to melt tar, heat liquids, etc.
5. a rounded post, in the stern of a whaleboat, around which the harpoon line is passed.
6. a circular inkwell having a broad, flat base.
—Idiom
7. at loggerheads, engaged in a disagreement or dispute; quarreling: They were at loggerheads over the distribution of funds.
Use loggerhead in a Sentence
Origin:
1580–90; logger block of wood (first attested alone in 18th century) + head

Related forms:
log⋅ger⋅head⋅ed, adjective

loggerhead turtle

 
–noun
a sea turtle, Caretta caretta, having a large head: now greatly reduced in number.
Also called loggerhead.

Origin:
1650–60
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To loggerhead
log·ger·head   (lô'gər-hěd', lŏg'ər-)   
n.  

  1. A loggerhead turtle.

  2. An iron tool consisting of a long handle with a bulbous end, used when heated to melt tar or warm liquids.

  3. Nautical A post on a whaleboat used to secure the harpoon rope.

  4. Informal

    1. A blockhead; a dolt.

    2. A disproportionately large head.


[Probably dialectal logger, wooden block (probably from log1) + head.]
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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Word Origin & History

loggerhead 
1588, "stupid person, blockhead," from dial. logger "heavy block of wood." Later it meant "a thick-headed iron tool" (1687), a type of cannon shot, a type of turtle (1657). Loggerheads "fighting, fisticuffs" is from 1680, but the exact notion is uncertain, perhaps it suggests the heavy tools used as weapons. The phrase at loggerheads "in disagreement" is first recorded 1831.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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