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Origin and history of header

header(n.)

"head-first dive or plunge," 1849, from head (n.); as a type of pass or shot with the head in soccer, by 1906. Earlier it meant "executioner, headsman" (mid-15c.).

also from 1849

Entries linking to header

head(n.)

Middle English hed, from Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubid (source also of Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Haupt, Gothic haubiþ "head"), from PIE root *kaput- "head."

Modern spelling is early 15c., representing what was then a long vowel (as in heat) and remained after pronunciation shifted. Of rounded tops of plants from late 14c. The meaning "origin of a river" is mid-14c. The meaning "obverse of a coin" (the side with the portrait) is from 1680s; meaning "foam on a mug of beer" is attested by 1540s; meaning "toilet" is from 1748, based on location of crew toilet in the bow (or head) of a ship.

Synecdochic use for "person" (as in head count) is attested by late 13c.; of cattle, etc., in this sense from 1510s. As a height measure of persons, from c. 1300. Meaning "drug addict" (usually in a compound with the preferred drug as the first element) is from 1911.

To be over (one's) head "beyond one's comprehension" is by 1620s. To give head "perform fellatio" is from 1950s. Phrase heads will roll "people will be punished" (1930) translates Adolf Hitler. Head case "eccentric or insane person" is from 1966. Head game "mental manipulation" attested by 1972. To put heads together "consult" is from late 14c.

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    lintel
    "horizontal piece resting on the jambs of a door or window," early 14c., from Old French lintel "threshold" (13c., Modern French linteau), a word of uncertain origin, probably a variant of lintier, from Vulgar Latin *limitalis "threshold," or a similar unrecorded word, from Latin
    cope
    late 14c., coupen, "to quarrel;" c. 1400, "come to blows, deliver blows, engage in combat," from Old French couper, earlier colper "hit, punch," from colp "a blow" (see coup). The meaning evolved by 18c. into "handle (successfully), deal with," perhaps influenced by now-obsolete
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    The meaning "a draw in a double-header" is from 1920....
    lemma
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    jump
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    late Old English hyttan, hittan "come upon, meet with, fall in with, 'hit' upon," from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse hitta "to light upon, meet with," also "to hit, strike;" Swedish hitta "to find," Danish and Norwegian hitte "to hit, find," from Proto-Germanic *hitjan,
    lentil
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    line
    a Middle English merger of Old English line "cable, rope; series, row, row of letters; rule, direction," and Old French ligne "guideline, cord, string; lineage, descent" (12c.), both from Latin linea "linen thread, string, plumb-line," also "a mark, bound, limit, goal; line of de

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