Dictionary Definition
pinhead
Noun
2 the head of a pin
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /ˈpɪn.hɛd/
Noun
- The head of a pin. Frequently used in size
comparisons.
- 1810, Thomas Thomson, A System of Chemistry, Vol. 4, Bell &
Bradfute, page
602,
- The moment the nitre was red hot, the coal, previously reduced to small pieces of the size of a pinhead, was projected in portions of one or two grains at a time…
- 1810, Thomas Thomson, A System of Chemistry, Vol. 4, Bell &
Bradfute, page
602,
- In the context of "slang": An ignorant, naïve, foolish, and stupid person.
- A telemark skier
- slang medicine A
human head that is unusually tapered or small, often due to
microcephaly, or a
person with that trait. Often promoted in freak shows as
"human pinheads".
- 1939, Amram Scheinfeld and Morton David Schweitzer, You and
Heredity, Frederick A. Stokes Co., page
155,
- The microcephalic idiot is an unfortunate with a "pinhead," sometimes exhibited as a "what's-it" in circus side-shows, whose mental age never goes beyond that of an imbecile.
- 1943, Oliver Ramsay Pilat, Sodom by the Sea: An Affectionate
History of Coney Island, Garden City Publishing, page
187,
- Zip the What-Is-It was simply a Negro idiot. … For half an hour at a time, David Belasco used to watch Zip at Coney Island. The producer insisted he saw signs of intelligence in the pinhead…
- 1939, Amram Scheinfeld and Morton David Schweitzer, You and
Heredity, Frederick A. Stokes Co., page
155,
- In the context of "slang|pet stores": A
newborn cricket used as
food for pets.
- 1994, Raymond E. Hunziker, Leopard Geckos, Publisher, ISBN
079380258X, page
16,
- A newly hatched gecko will need pretty small crickets, but you will not have to go all the way down to pinheads.
- 2000, Manny Rubio, Scorpions: Everything About Purchase, Care,
Feeding, and Housing, Barron's Educational Series, ISBN 0764112244,
page
70,
- Crickets can be purchased in many sizes from newborns ("pinheads") to adults.
- 1994, Raymond E. Hunziker, Leopard Geckos, Publisher, ISBN
079380258X, page
16,
Translations
The head of a pin
- Finnish: nuppineulan pää
An ignorant, naïve, foolish, and stupid person
- Finnish: ääliö
A telemark skier
A person with microcephaly
Derived terms
Extensive Definition
A pinhead is literally the head of a pin.
Pinhead may also refer to:
- Pinhead (Hellraiser), a primary antagonist from the Hellraiser series of horror films
- Zip the Pinhead, a circus performer of the late 19th and early 20th century
- Zippy the Pinhead, a comic strip character
- a telemark skier
- a person with microcephaly, in freak shows promoted as "human pinheads"
- See, List of disability-related terms with negative connotations
- "Pinhead", a song by The Ramones on their album Leave Home
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
addlebrain, addlehead, addlepate, beefhead, beetleheaded, blockhead, blockheaded, blubberhead, blunderhead, bonehead, bufflehead, cabbagehead, cap, capsheaf, caput, chowderhead, chucklehead, chuckleheaded, clodhead, clodpate, clodpoll, cluck, crest, crown, crumb, dense, dimwit, dolthead, doltish, dot, drop, droplet, dullhead, dumb cluck, dumbhead, dunderhead, dunderpate, fathead, fatheaded, featherweight, fleck, flyspeck, gnat, grain, head, heading, headpiece, iota, jolterhead, jot, jughead, knucklehead, lackwit, lunkhead, meathead, microbe, microorganism, midge, minim, minutia, minutiae, mite, mote, muddlehead, mushhead, muttonhead, nitwit, noodlehead, numskull, particle, peabrain, pinbrain, pinpoint, point, puddinghead, pumpkin head,
puzzlehead, scrap, simp, snip, snippet, speck, stupidhead, thickhead, thickskull, tittle, topknot, tottyhead, vanishing
point