head man—
1. a chief or a tribal leader:
- The head men, or chiefs of the whole nation, were convened.
2. head of a department:
- Tomorrow, when she sees the head man … we’ll try and sort this business out.
3. a person walking ahead of a party of hunters, mountain climbers, etc.:
- Their positions in order of desirability were: sack man, head man, tail man and middle man.
4. smb. who beheads the condemned person:
- The walls resounded with the dread word of treason and its price—the gallows and the headman’s axe.
Note: The expression does not fully correlate in meaning with the compound headsman—
1. = head man 4:
- As there was no English headsman capable of wielding a sword for such a purpose, one had been brought over from Calais.
2. the man in command of a whaling boat:
- The crew of the boat consists of the headsman, boatsteerer and four hands.
3. (dated) head or leading man, especially of a village community:
- Each town, or township, is divided into wards or barrios, the headsman of which is called cabeza de barangay.
4. (dated) a miner who pushes loaded cars to the place from which they will be hauled to the surface:
- This little boy is called a foal. He sometimes assists the headsman by pushing the tub beside him.
main man—
1. (also: leading man) a person that guides, directs, or leads:
- This year the skateboard club is reformed again with Doug Cameron as the main man.
2. (also: leading man) an actor who plays the leading male role:
- Affleck is very good as the main man and he plays his part in a reasonably straight, understated way.
3. (U.S. sl.) a person’s best friend:
- Pierre is my main man when it comes to all things website related. He’s a genius with this stuff.
4. (U.S. sl.) a woman’s husband or lover:
- He’s been her main man for two years. Do you think they’ll get married?