a person who attends a performance, sports event, etc., or travels on a train, airplane, etc., without having paid for a ticket, especially a person using a complimentary ticket or free pass.
a train, railroad car, airplane, truck, or other commercial vehicle while operating empty, as when returning to a terminal.
a stupid or boring person; dullard.
Metallurgy. excess metal in the riser of a mold.
a sunken or partially sunken log.
to transport (someone) as a deadhead.
to move (an empty commercial vehicle) along a route.
Horticulture. to remove faded blooms from (ornamental plants), especially in flower gardens, often to help continued blooming.
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.
a dull unenterprising person
a person who uses a free ticket, as for a train, the theatre, etc
a train, etc, travelling empty
a totally or partially submerged log floating in a lake, etc
(tr) to cut off withered flowers from (a plant)
(intr) to drive an empty bus, train, etc
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
SemiCab says its technology reduced so-called deadhead miles by 70%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
Olga showed the girls how to deadhead roses and immediately delved into their lives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
The main flower bed is positioned near the house to allow her to water plants and deadhead roses with ease.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
Simply deadhead the flowers when they are spent to keep the bushes from seeding themselves.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2021
For the same deadhead reason people climb mountains—it was there and I wanted to try it.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
But Pelosi, who grew up listening to opera waft through the streets of Baltimore’s Little Italy, is a genuine tie-dyed in the wool Deadhead, as cultists and aficionados of the group are known.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2023
In a recent interview, King recalled being made fun of by “teachers and students alike” for showing up to class dressed like a Deadhead.
From New York Times ● Sep. 1, 2022
The things I feared were frivolous during my young Deadhead days, I began to understand in an entirely different way.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2019
The Deadhead performances vary in terms of numbers of members, key the song is played in, tempo and talent.
From Fox News ● Apr. 5, 2019
The association with the method is unfortunate, because unlike the large psychedelic Deadhead patterns and colors, bandini tie-dyes are delicate and intricate.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
These live recordings had an appeal beyond Deadheads: The group’s May 8, 1977, concert at Cornell University was placed into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2024
Deadheads took to the road in the 1970s to pursue the Grateful Dead from city to city.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024
But the band ended up generating tremendous interest from new audiences, too, becoming a bridge between Deadheads then and now.
From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2023
By the time you went to your third concert -- typical among Deadheads -- you would start recognizing and interacting with this same collection of familiar strangers and this could facilitate positive interactions.
From Salon ● Jan. 28, 2023
Exhausted, he headed straight for the Deadheads, went deep into the forest until he reached the spot where the trees crowded against the southwest corner.
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
