head of water—body of water kept at a certain height for supplying a water-mill, etc.:
- Let us compare a watermill driven by a head of water, and a windmill driven by the wind.
water-head—
1. the upper part of a stream near its source:
- Passing by the waterhead his father so loved in the old days of his carriage tours, we drove to the church.
2. = head of water:
- Only about one-fifteenth of the total length of the dam, or 500 feet, will be exposed to the maximum water-head of 85 feet.
3. (sl.) a stupid person; a half-wit:
- The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the adjectival compound watery-headed—(arch.) apt to frequently cry:
- She objected to the display of emotion … and was apt to speak of members of her sex as a watery-headed lot.