headstead

English

Alternative forms

• head-stead, head stead

Etymology

From head +‎ stead. Compare Old English hēafodstede (“chief place; high place, sacred place”).

Noun

headstead (plural headsteads)

1. A place for the head, especially somewhere to lay or rest it; a headrest.
2. A bolster or cushion for the head.
3. (of a bed) The area at the head of the bed; headboard.
   • 1956, John Howard Griffin, Nuni:

     He lies bundled up now between the quilts and blankets of his four-poster iron bed with its brass roses carved at the headstead.

   • 1986, Danielle Steel, Thurston House:

     He began to look at his watch now, every few minutes, and Camille was holding his arm with one hand and clutching the brass headstead on the bed with the other, shrieking whenever the pains came, which was most of the time now.

   • 2012, William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone, Savage Texas:

     Bedsprings creaked and squealed, the posts of the brass-railed headstead hammering rhythmically against the wall [...]

Anagrams

• dead heats