heady

Etymology

It is formed from English head + -y,^[2][3][4] in Middle English hevedy or hedy, from heved, hed "head".^[5][6] The OED notes that it was first modelled on Medieval Latin praeceps (“headlong, impetuous”),^[2] and compares Dutch hoofdig (“intoxicating”), recorded from 1642, for the sense "going to the head".^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a fall, headlong: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, a rare sense that soon died out.^[2] The sense "impetuous, headstrong" of a person follows before 1425;^[2] Etymonline dates "headstrong, hasty, impetuous" to the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From "headlong" the word passed to people who rush headlong: impetuous, wilful, unruly, and in early use also too keen on something.^[2] In the 16th century it was used of rulers for "domineering"^[2][7] and of rivers for flowing fast and turbulently (1562).^[2] The sense "apt to go to the head", of drink, appears in 1559 in the Mirror for Magistrates,^[2] or in the 1570s according to Etymonline;^[3] from it came "intoxicated, giddy" (1582) and, without any physical effect, "exciting, exhilarating" (1669, in William Penn).^[2] Johnson (1755) still put "rash; precipitate; hasty; violent" first, quoting Shakespeare's Henry V.^[8] Later senses are "having a headache" (1872, in George Eliot's letters) and "dizzyingly high" (1898).^[2] In Scots and northern English dialect it kept the sense "headstrong, self-willed", and in Lanarkshire and Cheshire it also meant clever, brainy;^[9] the American Heritage Dictionary records "showing good judgment, prudent".^[7] In slang it has meant drunk, from 1861 in Mayhew, and in American use arrogant, from 1907.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1382 – of a fall, headlong (obsolete).^[2]
• before 1425 – of a person, impetuous, headstrong, unruly.^[2]
• 1559 – of drink, intoxicating, going to the head.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1570s.^[3]
• 1562 – of water, flowing fast and powerfully.^[2]
• 1582 – affected in the mind, intoxicated, giddy.^[2]
• 1669 – exciting or exhilarating, without physical effect.^[2]
• 1861 – slang, drunk.^[10]
• 1872 – having a headache.^[2]
• 1898 – so high as to make one giddy.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a drink, smell or taste: intoxicating or tending to go to the head: a heady red wine.^[11][7][2]
2. Strongly affecting the mind or senses; very exciting or exhilarating: the heady weeks after the election win.^{[11][7][5][2]}
3. Light-headed or elated; giddy: heady with success.^[5][2]
4. Rash, impetuous or headstrong.^{[11][7][5][2]}
5. Of water: swift and violent.^[7][5][2]
6. Showing intelligence and good judgment; shrewd.^[7]
7. Suffering from a headache.^[7][2]

Word family

• headily
• headiness
• overheady
• unheady

Related words

• head
• headlong
• headstrong
• headachy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins