Alexander Schmidt, Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary

Head, subst. 1) the part of the animal that contains the brain and the organs of the senses: Ven. 223. Ven. 223 Tp. II, 1, 117. Tp. II, 1, 117 III, 2, 69. III, 3, 47. Gent. II, 4, 70. III, 1, 192. Wiv. IV, 4, 50 etc. etc. to break a person's h. (cf. Break): Wiv. I, 1, 125. Tw. V, 178. Tw. V, 178 H4A III, 1, 242. H4B II, 1, 97. III, 2, 33. to lose the h. (== to be beheaded): Meas. V, 71. Meas. V, 71 R2 III, 2, 142. H6A II, 5, 54. H6B I, 2, 34. R3 III, 4, 40. IV, 4, 242. to hang the h., a gesture expressing sorrow (cf. Hang): Ven. 666. H6A III, 2, 124. H6B I, 2, 2. H8 III, 1, 11. H8 III, 1, 11 V, 5, 33. Tit. IV, 4, 70. Oth. IV, 3, 32. to hold up h., expressing confidence and courage: “whether our present five and twenty thousand may hold up h. without Northumberland,” H4B I, 3, 17; or simply == to look up: “hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like never to hold it up again,” H4A V, 4, 39. to shake the h., expressing either disapprobation and denial: Ado II, 1, 377. John IV, 2, 231. Tim. II, 2, 211. Caes. I, 2, 286. Lr. IV, 6, 122. or grief and pity: “she shakes her h.” Ven. 223. “to shake the h., relent and sigh,” Merch. III, 3, 15. “what dost thou mean by shaking of thy h.?” John III, 1, 19. “thou shakest thy h. and holdest it fear or sin to speak a truth,” H4B I, 1, 95. “shakes his h. and trembling stands aloof,” H6B I, 1, 227. “shake your h. and call us wretches,” R3 II, 2, 5. “I have shook my h. and wept,” Tim. II, 2, 146. “let's shake our --s and say, We have seen better days,” IV, 2, 25. or == to nod: “and thought thee happy when I shook my h.” H6B IV, 1, 55. to wave the h. == to nod slowly and significantly: “waving thy h., which often, thus, correcting thy stout heart, now humble,” Cor. III, 2, 77. “thrice his h. thus waving up and down,” Hml. II, 1, 93. “from h. to foot:” Err. III, 2, 115. Troil. II, 1, 29. Hml. I, 2, 228. Ant. V, 2, 239. Cymb. I, 6, 19. from omitted: “h. to foot now is he total gules,” Hml. II, 2, 478. “from h. to heel,” Wint. IV, 4, 229. “from the crown of his h. to the sole of his foot,” Ado III, 2, 9. o'er h. and ears == entirely: “o'er h. and ears a forked one,” Wint. I, 2, 186. by the h. and shoulders == headlong: “thrust virtue out of our hearts by the h. and shoulders,” Wiv. V, 5, 156. “draw your arrows to the h.” R3 V, 3, 339 (bend your bows with all your might). “as true a dog as ever fought at h.” Tit. V, 1, 102 (as attacked his adversary by the front). “thou art not so long by the h. as honorificabili-tudinitatibus,” LLL V, 1, 44 (Costard's speech; == that word is longer than you by the measure of a head). “thy eyes are almost set in thy h.” Tp. III, 2, 10. “hast thou never an eye in thy h.?” H4A II, 1, 32. “your death hath eyes in's h. then,” Cymb. V, 4, 184. “keep a good tongue in your h.” Tp. III, 2, 40. Tp. III, 2, 40 “I have ne'er a tongue in my h.” Merch. II, 2, 166. “this tongue that runs so roundly in thy h.” R2 II, 1, 122. “with ne'er a tooth in her h.” Shr. I, 2, 80. All's II, 3, 49. “teeth hadst thou in thy h.” H6C V, 6, 53. l<*>y their --s together == consult secretly, conspire: Shr. I, 2, 139. H6B III, 1, 165. IV, 8, 61. to turn h. == to face the enemy: “turns h. against the lion's armed jaws,” H4A III, 2, 102. “turn h. and stop pursuit,” H5 II, 4, 69. by my h., used as an oath: Troil. II, 3, 95. Rom. III, 1, 38. Considered as the seat of thought: “his h. is light,” Err. V, 72. “drunken --s,” Tw. V, 412. “I have a h. that will find out logs,” Rom. IV, 4, 17. “I have matter in my h. against you,” Wiv. I, 1, 127 (quibbling). “the matter's in my h. and in my heart,” As III, 5, 137. “'tis in my h. to do my master good,” Shr. II, 408 (== I have a design, a plan). “he's sudden, if a thing comes in his h.” H6C V, 5, 86. Mcb. III, 4, 139. Oth. IV, 2, 15.
Pars pro toto; head == the whole person: “take counsel of some wiser h.” Pilgr. 303. “as tall . . . as any is between this and his h.” Wiv. I, 4, 27. “'fore all the Greekish --s, which with one voice call Agamemnon h. and general,” Troil. I, 3, 221. “let our best --s know, that to-morrow the last of many battles we mean to fight,” Ant. IV, 1, 10. “take your houses over your --s,” H6B IV, 8, 31 (i. e. which shelter you). “I'll blast your harvest, if your h. were laid,” H6C V, 7, 21 (if you were dead); cf. H6A V, 3, 26. “guard thy h.” H6A I, 3, 87. “I know not where to hide my h.” Tp. II, 2, 23. LLL V, 2, 86. LLL V, 2, 86 Mids. III, 2, 406. R2 III, 3, 6. H4A I, 3, 106. H6A I, 5, 39. H6B V, 1, 85. Troil. IV, 4, 139. Caes. IV, 3, 16. “till then not show my h.” Sonn. 26, 14. Merch III, 1, 48. R2 V, 6, 44. Troil. V, 6, 1. Rom. V, 3, 306. “betted much money on his h.” H4B III, 2, 50. “wager on your --s,” Hml. IV, 7, 135. V, 2, 106. “to the h. of Angelo accuse him home and home,” Meas. IV, 3, 147 (== without reserve, without any fear of his person and power). “know, Claudio, to thy h.” Ado V, 1, 62. “I'll avouch it to his h.” Mids. I, 1, 106. “whose wraths else falls upon your --s,” Tp. III, 3, 81. “pour your graces upon my daughter's h.” Wint. V, 3, 123. Gent. III, 1, 19. Wiv. II, 1, 191. Mids. IV, 1, 160. Merch. IV, 1, 206. All's I, 1, 79. III, 2, 32. Wint. V, 2, 123. John I, 76. III, 1, 193. R2 V, 1, 69. V, 6, 36. H5 II, 4, 105. IV Chor. H5 II, 4, 105 H6C I, 4, 168. II, 2, 129. R3 V, 3, 206. H8 V, 4, 83. Hml. I, 5, 79 etc. Inversely: “this present enterprise set off his h.” H4A V, 1, 88.
Totum pro parte; head for ear: “a lover's ear will hear the lowest sound, when the suspicious h. of theft is stopped,” LLL IV, 3, 336. “that the appalled air may pierce the h. of the great combatant,” Troil. IV, 5, 5. “loud music is too harsh for ladies' --s,” Per. II, 3, 97 (cf. Cymb. III, 4, 178). For mouth: “those viands which I heaved to h.” Cymb. V, 5, 157.
2) the horns of a deer: “a buck of the first h.” LLL IV, 2, 10 (so a buck was called in his fifth year). “turn on the bloody hounds with --s of steel,” H6A IV, 2, 51. cf. the quibbles in Troil: “we lose our --s to gild his horns,” IV, 5, 31. “you fillip me o' the h. It were no match, your nail against his horn,” IV, 5, 31 IV, 5, 31
3) chief, leader, commander: “he is his wife's h.” Meas. IV, 2, 4. Shr. V, 2, 147. “as we, under heaven, are supreme h.” John III, 1, 155. H5 II, 4, 73. H6B II, 1, 170. Troil. I, 3, 222. Cor. V, 6, 91. Hml. I, 3, 24. Adjectively: “which is the h. lady?” LLL IV, 1, 43.
4) any thing resembling the head of an animal; a bud: “whose settled visage nips youth i' the h.” Meas. III, 1, 91. the point of an arrow: his best arrow “with the golden h.” Mids. I, 1, 170. “forked --s,” As II, 1, 24. the knob of a pin: LLL V, 2, 615. H4A IV, 2, 24. H4B IV, 3, 59. the purulent top of an ulcer: “foul sin gathering h. shall break into corruption,” R2 V, 1, 58. H4B III, 1, 76. Hence to gather to a h. == to become ripe: “now doth my project gather to a h.” Tp. V, 1.
5) the top, the summit: “set on the h. of a wasps' nest,” Wint. IV, 4, 813. “though palaces and pyramids do slope their --s to their foundations,” Mcb. IV, 1, 58. Hml. V, 1, 276. Lr. IV, 1, 76. Oth. I, 3, 141. Per. I, 4, 24. Used of waters: “Severn hid his crisp h.” H4A I, 3, 106. “the watery kingdom, whose ambitious h. spits in the face of heaven,” Merch. II, 7, 44. Metaphorically: “set quarrelling upon the h. of valour,” Tim. III, 5, 28 (think it the crown and top of valour). “the very h. and front of my offending has this extent,” Oth. I, 3, 80 (this is its height, as it were, and breadth). “on horror's h. horrors accumulate,” III, 3, 370.
6) a headland, promontory: “from the h. of Actium beat the approaching Caesar,” Ant. III, 7, 52.
7) source: “and find your salt tears' h.” All's I, 3, 178. “fetch from false Mowbray their first h. and spring,” R2 I, 1, 97. III, 3, 108. Rom. V, 3, 218. Mcb. II, 3, 103. Hml. I, 1, 106. II, 2, 55.
8) liberty of motion (a term of horsemanship), free scope, licence: “give him h.: I know he'll prove a jade,” Shr. I, 2, 249. “with that he gave his able horse the h.” H4B I, 1, 43. “hast given unto the house of York such h. as thou shalt reign but with their sufferance,” H6C I, 1, 233. “makes it take h. from all indifferency, from all direction, purpose, course, intent,” John II, 579. “to shorten you, for taking so the h., your whole --'s length,” R2 III, 3, 14.
9) armed force: “before I drew this gallant h. of war,” John V, 2, 113. H4A IV, 4, 28. “by raising of a h.” H4A I, 3, 284. V, 1, 66. H8 II, 1, 108. “made h. against my power,” H4A III, 1, 64. H4B I, 1, 168. Caes. IV, 1, 42. Oth. I, 3, 275 (metaphorically). “if we can make a h.” H4A IV, 1, 80. Cor. II, 2, 92. “making another h. to fight again,” H6C II, 1, 141. “Aufidius had made new h.” Cor. III, 1, 1. “make some stronger h.” Cymb. IV, 2, 139. “to seek out this h. of safety,” H4A IV, 3, 103. “a h. of gallant warriors,” IV, 4, 25. “a mighty and a fearful h.” III, 2, 167. “his divisions are in three --s,” H4B I, 3, 71. “for which we have in h. assembled them,” H5 II, 2, 18. “the French have gathered h.” H6A I, 4, 100. H6B IV, 5, 10. Tit. IV, 4, 63. “Laertes, in a riotous h., o'erbears your officers,” Hml. IV, 5, 101. “the powers will soon be drawn to h.” Cymb. III, 5, 25.