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  • flathead
    flathead
    noun
    any of several scorpaenoid fishes of the family Platycephalidae, chiefly inhabiting waters of the Indo-Pacific region and used for food.
  • Flathead
    Flathead
    noun
    a member of an Indigenous people of northwest Montana.

flathead

1 American  
[flat-hed] / ˈflætˌhɛd /

noun

  • flathead,
    plural
  • flatheads
    plural
  1. any of several scorpaenoid fishes of the family Platycephalidae, chiefly inhabiting waters of the Indo-Pacific region and used for food.


Flathead 2 American  
[flat-hed] / ˈflætˌhɛd /

noun

  1. Also called Bitterroot Salish. a member of an Indigenous people of northwest Montana.

  2. a member of a confederated nation of Salish and Kootenay peoples, established in 1855 and located in northwest Montana.

  3. a member of the Chinook people.


adjective

  1. of or relating to any of the peoples historically known as Flathead or to their languages.

Flathead 3 American  
[flat-hed] / ˈflætˌhɛd /

noun

  1. a river in SE British Columbia and NW Montana, flowing S to Flathead Lake and S and W to the Clark Fork River. 240 miles (385 km) long.


flathead British  
/ ˈflætˌhɛd /

noun

  1. any Pacific scorpaenoid food fish of the family Platycephalidae , which resemble gurnards

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of flathead1

First recorded in 1825–35; flat 1 + head

Origin of Flathead2

First recorded in 1530–40; so called from their supposed practice of binding infants' heads to create a longer, flatter skull shape; the peoples currently known as Flatheads did not engage in this custom


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Also known as grabblers or hand-fishermen, noodlers use their own bare limbs as bait to catch enormous flathead catfish lurking in Southern and Midwestern rivers, creeks, and lakes.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Fish species affected included largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, flathead catfish, and stocked species such as brown trout and rainbow trout.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2026

After an hour or two, use a flathead screwdriver to gently scrape out any excess mortar between tiles and wipe everything until it’s clean.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2021

That same month, Tyler Barnes of Pikeville, North Carolina, reeled in a 78-pound, 14-ounce flathead catfish from the Neuse River.

From Washington Times ● Jan. 22, 2021

The screwheads defied both flathead and Phillips screwdrivers.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer

“I think it can do a lot of good,” said Ray Thompson, a prominent entrepreneur who owns Sykes, a diner in Kalispell, the Flathead County seat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

Yes, the event is meant to feature Flathead Valley in the greater Montana and celebrate all the great things that are going on there, which are all 100% unique.

From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2024

An indictment publicly released on Wednesday alleges that they killed birds on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana and elsewhere.

From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2023

The 67-year-old lawmaker smiled and laughed his way through the crowd at a Veterans Day event in Bigfork, a small town on Flathead Lake where the population has surged in recent years.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 19, 2023

And I just kept imagining there was some Flathead Indian grandma in the kitchen, just making fry bread for all the room-service people.

From "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

At night flatheads and blue catfish are fair on stinkbait.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 13, 2019

Catfish - flatheads in particular - have become celebrities of sorts in recent years thanks to mainstream fishing shows such as “River Monsters” and “Hillbilly Handfishin’.”

From Washington Times ● Nov. 22, 2014

In those shows, anglers often employ a bizarre fishing method called “noodling” in which massive flatheads are caught by people sticking their hands into a fish’s underwater lair.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 22, 2014

His bait of choice is live bluegill for the more predatory flatheads.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 22, 2014

Although channel catfish were often found in nearby holes, that species was never present in the two holes used by flatheads.

From Fish Populations, Following a Drought, in the Neosho and Marais des Cygnes Rivers of Kansas by James Everett Deacon

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