headlight

[ hed-lahyt ]

/ ˈhɛdˌlaɪt /

noun

a light or lamp, usually equipped with a reflector, on the front of an automobile, locomotive, etc.

Nearby words

heading dog, heading sword, headlamp, headland, headless, headlight, headline, headline rate, headliner, headlock, headlong

Origin of headlight

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; head + light¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for headlights

The streets are unlit; the drivers are blind to anything more than a few inches beyond their headlights.
A Shooting on a Tribal Land Uncovers Feds Running Wild|Caitlin Dickson|August 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
My headlights caught a lonely figure under the elevated train tracks.
Real Life Lazarus: When Patients Rise From the Dead|Sandeep Jauhar|August 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When the headlights of the car in which Kumar travels lights up one such abode he feels immediately guilty.
The Real India Revealed|Rafia Zakaria|August 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the distance, hugging a T-wall, two Humvees idled door-to-door with their headlights on.
How the Dead Come Home From Afghanistan|Nick Willard|May 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Doctorow famously said that writing a novel is like driving at night—you can see about as far as your headlights shine.
How I Write: Scott Spencer|Noah Charney|March 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It has a steering gear (the brain), just back of the headlights, and a system of nerve electric wires connecting all parts of it.
A Handbook of Health|Woods Hutchinson
Catching the reflection of the headlights she hurried to the window.
Diane of the Green Van|Leona Dalrymple
Night fell and the headlights glared ahead, and the staff car clanked and clanked and grumbled and roared on through the darkness.
The Invaders|William Fitzgerald Jenkins
We ate a sort of meal in the car with the hood up, and felt our way on in the darkness, for the headlights were in perfect order.
Greenmantle|John Buchan
They drew away from the limousine so quickly that in thirty seconds its headlights were all that marked its stand.
Alias The Lone Wolf|Louis Joseph Vance

British Dictionary definitions for headlights

headlight

headlamp

/ (ˈhɛdˌlaɪt) /

noun

a powerful light, equipped with a reflector and attached to the front of a motor vehicle, locomotive, etcSee also quartz-iodine lamp

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

headlight

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of headlight

Examples from the Web for headlights

British Dictionary definitions for headlights

headlight

headlamp

noun