headstead

A place for the head, especially somewhere to lay or rest it; a headrest.

Noun

  1. A place for the head, especially somewhere to lay or rest it; a headrest.
  2. A bolster or cushion for the head.
  3. The area at the head of the bed; headboard.
    • He lies bundled up now between the quilts and blankets of his four-poster iron bed with its brass roses carved at the headstead. - 1956, John Howard Griffin, Nuni:
    • He began to look at his watch now, every few minutes, and Camille was holding his arm with one hand and clutching the brass headstead on the bed with the other, shrieking whenever the pains came, which was most of the...
    • Bedsprings creaked and squealed, the posts of the brass-railed headstead hammering rhythmically against the wall [...] - 2012, William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone, Savage Texas:

Origin

From head + stead. Compare Old English hēafodstede (“chief place; high place, sacred place”).

Forms

headsteads head-stead head stead