headlong

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hedlong, first in the phrase bi hedlong,^[2][3] an alteration of the earlier hedling,^[4][5][3][6] formed from Middle English hed + -ling, with the adverbial suffix of darkling.^[7][6][5] The ending was changed under the influence of other words: the OED says after the suffix -long,^[4] Hoad by association with along,^[8] and Etymonline and Klein on the pattern of sidelong.^[7][6] The OED adds that the earlier form was originally modelled on Latin praeceps (“headlong, literally head first”), and compares Middle Dutch hōdelinge and Middle High German houbetlingen.^[4] Johnson took the word simply as head and long.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

With the head going first, of a fall: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, where Judges 5:22 has by hedlong fallynge, with the manuscript variant heuedlynge.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the adverb to the late 14th century,^[7] Dictionary.com to 1350–1400,^[10] and Hoad dates headling to the 13th century,^[8] while the OED's first record of headling as an adverb is from about 1384.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first uses describe a downward fall, as in the Wycliffite rendering of Matthew 8:32, where the drove went heedlynge, for the Vulgate's praeceps, into the sea.^[11] From about 1500 the adverb also meant rashly or without thought.^[4] From 1576 it described forward motion at breakneck speed.^[4] The adjective followed in the 16th century, first for rash or wildly hasty conduct,^[4][5][12] then for a cliff or slope so steep that a person might fall headlong, a use now rare,^[4][12] and for the fall or dive itself.^[4][12] Johnson (1755) gave both parts of speech and remarked that it is often doubtful which of them the word is.^[9] A verb, to cast down, was used from about 1595 to 1657, and the intransitive verb, to plunge or rush headlong, dates from 1654.^[4] The older companions of headling formed with the same suffix, such as backling and flatling, are now mostly obsolete,^[7] and headlongs survives only in dialect.^[12] In Wiltshire a headlong was a headland, the strip at the ends of a field where the plough turns.^[13]

Timeline

• before 1382 – adverb, head foremost, of a fall.^[4][2]
• c. 1500 – adverb, rashly, hastily.^[4]
• before 1533 – adjective, rash, wildly hasty.^[4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the adjective to about 1533.^[5]
• before 1557 – adjective, of a cliff or precipice, steep.^[4]
• 1562 – adjective, of a fall or dive, made head first.^[4]
• c. 1565 – adjective, rushing forward with great force.^[4]
• 1576 – adverb, forward at breakneck speed.^[4]
• c. 1595 – verb, to cast down (obsolete by 1657).^[4]
• 1654 – verb, to plunge or rush headlong.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. With the head going first; headfirst: She fell headlong down the cellar stairs.^[14][5][4]
2. At great speed and with great force, in an uncontrolled rush: The horses charged headlong across the field.^[14][4][12]
3. Without stopping to think; recklessly: He plunged headlong into a second marriage.^[5][4]

Adjective

1. Rash, impetuous or precipitate: their headlong retreat from the plan.^[5][4][12]
2. Rushing forward with great force: a headlong charge down the hill.^[4][12]
3. Of a fall or dive, made head first: a headlong tumble into the ditch.^[5][4][12]
4. (archaic) Of a slope, very steep; precipitous.^{[14][5][4][12]}

Verb

1. To fall, plunge or rush headlong.^[4]

Word family

• headlongness

Related words

• head
• sidelong
• darkling
• headstrong
• -ling
• -long

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins