Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Headless
Head′less
,Adj.
[AS.
heáfodleás
.] 1.
Having no head; beheaded;
as, a
. headless
body, neck, or carcass2.
Destitute of a chief or leader.
Sir W. Raleigh.
3.
Destitute of understanding or prudence; foolish; rash; obstinate; mindless.
[Obs.]
Witless headiness in judging or
headless
hardiness in condemning. Spenser.
Webster 1828 Edition
Headless
HEADLESS
,Adj.
1.
Destitute of a chief or leader.2.
Destitute of understanding or prudence; rash; obstinate.Definition 2024
headless
headless
English
Adjective
headless (not comparable)
- Without a head; decapitated.
- How did the headless horseman see to chase Ichabod?
- Without leadership.
- The headless army blundered along after the death of their general, accomplishing nothing.
- Sir Walter Raleigh
- His forsaken soldiers, being now a headless company, and no longer an army to be feared, obtained nevertheless a reasonable composition from the Carthaginians […]
- (linguistics, of a phrase or compound) Not having a head morpheme or word.
- (computing) Running without a graphical user interface; running without any attached output device (e.g., monitor) or input device (e.g., keyboard, mouse).
- 2003, William Boswell, Inside Windows Server 2003, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 978-0-7357-1158-7, page 62:
-
/redirect
. Used for console redirection in headless servers.
-
- 2007, Carla Schroder, Linux Networking Cookbook, O’Reilly Media (2008), ISBN 978-0-596-10248-7, page 47:
- Routers typically run headless, without a keyboard or monitor.
- 2010, Charles Bell et al., MySQL High Availability: Tools for Building Robust Data Centers, O'Reilly Media, ISBN 978-0-596-80730-6, page 278:
- This is not unexpected for a Windows system running as a virtual machine or a headless server […]
- 2003, William Boswell, Inside Windows Server 2003, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 978-0-7357-1158-7, page 62:
- (of beer) Without a head of foam.
- (obsolete) Heedless.
- 1579, E. K. (Edward Kirke ?), Notes on Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calender
- If any one will rashly blame such his choice of old and unwonted words, him may I more justly blame and condemn, either of witless headiness in judging, or of headless hardiness in condemning.
- 1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepherd’s Calendar, John Ball, London, published 1732
- THENOT: Cuddy, I wot thou kenſt little Good, / So vainly to advance thy headleſs Hood.
- 1579, E. K. (Edward Kirke ?), Notes on Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calender
Derived terms
Translations
without a head