towhead

[ toh-hed ]

/ ˈtoʊˌhɛd /

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See synonyms for: tow-headed / towheaded on Thesaurus.com

noun

a head of very light blond, almost white hair.

a person with such hair.

a sand bar in a river, especially a sand bar with a stand of cottonwood trees.

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Origin of towhead

An Americanism dating back to 1820–30; tow² + head

OTHER WORDS FROM towhead

tow-headed, adjective

Words nearby towhead

tower of silence, tower of strength, tower wagon, towery, tow-haired, towhead, towheaded, towhee, to whom it may concern, towie, to windward

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use towhead in a sentence

Turn the page, and there, in fresh ginghams, would be mom, baking pies with one hand while patting her towhead with the other.
Doug Kenney: The Odd Comic Genius Behind ‘Animal House’ and National Lampoon|Robert Sam Anson|March 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As soon as I got started I took out after the raft, hot and heavy, right down the towhead.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
We laid up for the day on a towhead tolerable close to the left-hand bank.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
On this up trip I saw a little towhead (infant island) half a mile long, which had been formed during the past nineteen years.
Life On The Mississippi, Complete|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Only that morning I had seen Towhead, crouched behind a clump of syringas, playing sharp-shooter.
Sigurd Our Golden Collie and Other Comrades of the Road|Katharine Lee Bates
To the right of that was a towhead, a newly formed island of mud and sand partly awash.
Bring Me His Ears|Clarence E. Mulford

British Dictionary definitions for towhead

towhead

/ (ˈtəʊˌhɛd) /

noun often derogatory

a person with blond or yellowish hair

a head of such hair

Word Origin for towhead

from tow ² (flax)

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