Crosshead
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A metal beam that connects a piston to a connecting rod in an engine.
"All the Connor characteristics are seen in this locomotive: sharply inclined cylinders let into the side framing, which was slotted to expose the crosshead; […]."
- 2 metal block that connects to a piston; it slides on parallel guides and moves a connecting rod back and forth wordnet
- 3 Large text, like a headline but typically drawn from the article, placed partway through the article to break it up visually.
"Other bits of furniture include [...] the crosshead, a short heading between paragraphs that breaks up a long piece."
- 4 a heading of a subsection printed within the body of the text wordnet
- 5 A screw with a cross-shaped indentation for gripping and turning, as opposed to a flathead.
"The screws were crossheads and the screwdriver was slightly too large for them, so he had to hold it at an angle."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 A note with an x-shaped notehead, indicating a non-tonal sound such as a drumbeat or a rapped syllable.
Example
More examples"All the Connor characteristics are seen in this locomotive: sharply inclined cylinders let into the side framing, which was slotted to expose the crosshead; […]."
Etymology
From cross + head.
Related phrases
More for "crosshead"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.