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deadhead

[ ded-hed ]
/ ˈdɛdˌhɛd /
Informal.
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noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

to act or serve as a deadhead.
(of a commercial vehicle) to travel without cargo or paying passengers: The train carried coal to Pittsburgh and then deadheaded back to Virginia to pick up another load.

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Origin of deadhead

First recorded in 1570–80; dead + head

Words nearby deadhead

dead fingers, dead firing, dead freight, dead from the neck up, dead hand, deadhead, Dead Heart, dead heat, dead horse, dead in one's tracks, dead in the water
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to deadhead

pain in the neck, wimp, debtor, juvenile delinquent, offender, hoodlum, felon, wrongdoer, lawbreaker, defaulter, pain, nag, yawn, bother, drip, soporific, drag, bromide, pest, bummer

Example sentences from the Web for deadhead

British Dictionary definitions for deadhead

deadhead
/ (ˈdɛdˌhɛd) /

noun

a dull unenterprising person
a person who uses a free ticket, as for a train, the theatre, etc
US and Canadian a train, etc, travelling empty
US and Canadian a totally or partially submerged log floating in a lake, etc

verb

(tr) to cut off withered flowers from (a plant)
(intr) US and Canadian to drive an empty bus, train, etc
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
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