loggerhead

Noun

1. A stupid person; a blockhead, a dolt.
   • Ah, you whoreſon loggerhead, you were borne to do me ſhame. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London:...
   • [Y]ou in the mean time, you ſilly Logerhead, deſerve to have your Bones well-thraſh'd with a Fool's ſtaff, for thinking to ſtir up Kings and Princes to War by ſuch Childiſh Arguments. - 1692, John Milton, “The Author’s...

   Synonyms: addle-brain addlehead addle pate airhead baboon beanbrain beetlebrain beetlehead berk bimbo birdbrain blockhead blubberbrain bonehead Boeotian boob bozo brainlet brickhead bubblehead bubble brain bufflehead buffoon Charlie

2. A metal tool consisting of a long rod with a bulbous end that is made hot in a fire, then plunged into some material (such as pitch or a liquid) to melt or heat it.
   • Stalleen Station. Four new sets of hand-rails, one new foot-board, and one new sluice have been put on. A new balance beam has been put on the guard lock, and the sluices, bearing irons, and loggerheads secured. The...
   • These were the two invalids in the starboard sick-berth, whom Padeen had been sitting with. They had been sparring, in a spirit of fun, with loggerheads, those massy iron balls with long handles to be carried red-hot...
3. A post on a whaling boat used to secure the harpoon rope.
   • Not very far distant Flask's boat was also lying breathlessly still; its commander recklessly standing upon the top of the loggerhead, a stout sort of post rooted in the keel, and rising some two feet above the level of...
4. A thistle-like flowering plant of the genus Centaurea, particularly the common knapweed (Centaurea nigra).
   • Loggerheads, from the resemblance of its knobbed involucres to a weapon so called, consisting of a ball of iron at the end of a stick, the knapweed, the Clobbewed of old MSS. Centaurea nigra, L. - 1863, R[ichard]...
   • Bolwes, loggerheads, centaurea nigra. […] Bolwes is balls, the hard round heads of the wort. Loggerheads is a name I have often heard in Oxfordshire. - 1866, “Saxon Names of Worts and Trees”, in Oswald Cockayne, editor,...
5. Used as the name of various animals with large heads.
   • But here is a ſpecies of ducks, called the loggerhead, from its large head. They have ſhort wings, are unable to fly, and only ſwim and flap along on the water at an extraordinary rate. - 1775 November 9, William...
   • A ſpecies of duck, as large as a gooſe, and called the loggerhead duck at the Falkland Iſlands, is here met with, which beats the water with its wings and feet, and runs along the ſea with inconceivable velocity; […] -...
   • Micropterus cinereus (Gm.). (Loggerhead Duck.) This Duck, which is called the ‘Loggerhead’ in the Falkland Islands, frequents the salt water. […] Looking for the Loggerhead’s eggs, which are esteemed a great delicacy,...

   Synonyms: logger duck

   1. The loggerhead duck or Falkland steamer duck (Tachyeres brachypterus; formerly Tachyeres cinereus), a species of steamer duck endemic to the Falkland Islands.

   2. The loggerhead kingbird (Tyrannus caudifasciatus), a bird endemic to the Caribbean and West Indies.

      • [E]arly in the season, a pair of Loggerheads, Tyrannus caudifasciatus, appropriated the same tree to themselves, and commenced constructing their nest. The Mocking birds were seen constantly in the square, but never...

   3. The rufous-tailed flycatcher (Myiarchus validus), a bird endemic to Jamaica.

      • Myiarchus validus, Cab. (Tyrannus crinitus, Gosse.)—The Red Petchary of the South and the Red Loggerhead of the mountains and Western districts agrees with the common Loggerhead in its general habits, except that of...

   4. The loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), a bird endemic to North America.

      • […] I have received here also one of the parent birds, and in this instance I have been again surprised to learn that it is the Loggerhead, and not borealis or excubitoroides, that is the species referred to. […] So...

   5. The loggerhead musk turtle (Sternotherus minor), a large-headed turtle endemic to the United States.

      • Sternotherus minor (Agassiz) / Loggerhead musk-turtle / […] Most numerous in large calcareous springs, where they may be seen at night wandering around on the bottom, especially about piles of debris. - 1940 January,...
      • The loggerhead (S[ternotherus] m[inor] minor) and stripe-necked (S. m. peltifer) musk turtles represent two distinct subspecies of a species with a tan to brown carapace with black streaking and overlapping scutes down...

   6. The loggerhead sea turtle or loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), an oceanic turtle found throughout the world.

      • The Loggerhead is ſo called from the largeneſs of its head, which is much bigger in proportion than that of other kinds. The fleſh of this alſo is very rank, and not eaten but in caſe of neceſſity. - 1791, Oliver...
      • [O]ur boat was hoisted out, and a loggerhead turtle struck as it was sleeping on the surface of the water. […] Dr. Patrick Browne, in his Natural History of Jamaica, mentions the hawksbill, the green turtle, and the...
      • The currest estimated number of loggerhead females nesting annually from North Carolina to Key Biscayne, Florida is 20,640 (± 6,328). This nesting level has been relatively stable since 1980 and accounts for about 98...