deadhead
To admit to a performance without chargeTo admit to a performance without charge.
Meaning
5 senses(transitive)To admit to a performance without charge.
(intransitive)To travel as a deadhead, or non-paying passenger.
(intransitive, transitive)To drive an empty vehicle.
(transitive)To send (a person or message) for free.
1934, Lester Dent (as Kenneth Robeson), Brand Of The Werewolf, A Doc Savage Adventure “I'll deadhead the message for you, Mr. Savage. It won't cost a thing.”
(transitive) To remove spent or dead blossoms from a plant.
If you deadhead your roses regularly, they will bloom all season.
Origin
From dead + head. Some senses are derived from theater jargon (originally spelled dead heaFrom dead + head. Some senses are derived from theater jargon (originally spelled dead head) for audience members admitted without paying, which probably arose in analogy to dead weight or deadwood in reference to their lack of contribution to revenue or in reference to their unenthusiastic (dead) response to performances. Perhaps even from Latin caput mortuum, alchemy term for distillation residue. As Paul Quinion writes: Similarly, the term was applied to a dull or lazy person, one who contributes nothing to an enterprise, only in the early years of the twentieth century, well after the theatrical and transport senses had become well established.
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Forms
deadheads, deadheading, deadheaded, deadheaded| Base form | deadhead · to deadhead |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | deadheads |
| Present participle | deadheading |
| Past simple | deadheaded |
| Past participle | deadheaded |
regular · Lesson
Lessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle