headlight

[hed-lahyt]

noun

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

Nearby words

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

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

Word Origin and History for headlights

headlight

1861, originally of ships and locomotives, from head (n.) + light (n.). Related: Headlights, which, as slang for "a woman's breasts," is from 1940s.

headlight

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of headlight

Examples from the Web for headlights

headlight

headlamp

noun

headlight