flathead
1 Americannoun
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flathead,
plural
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flatheads
plural
noun
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Also called Bitterroot Salish. a member of an Indigenous people of northwest Montana.
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a member of a confederated nation of Salish and Kootenay peoples, established in 1855 and located in northwest Montana.
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a member of the Chinook people.
adjective
noun
noun
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
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“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
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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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