head sea

noun

Nautical.

1. a formation of waves running in a direction opposite to that of a vessel.

head sea

noun

1. a sea in which the waves run directly against the course of a ship

Word History and Origins

Origin of head sea¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

The Ushuaia bunted and bobbed her way through a head sea for five days before the high alluvial cliffs that mark the entrance to New Gulf loomed through the chilled mist of a storming morning.

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We tacked ship three times in the course of the day, and made little progress against the head sea.

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"One's heart is apt to fail when one looks forward and sees only the snow-squalls to drive one back to leeward, and the steep head seas."

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The weather was stormy; the wind was blowing something of a gale and head seas were breaking over the destroyers' decks.

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They got sail upon the sloop and drove her out into a confused head sea, through which she laboured with flooded decks, making very little to windward.

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