Definition of "deadhead"

deadhead

/ˈdɛdhɛd/

noun
plural deadheads
1. A person either admitted to a theatrical or musical performance without charge, or paid to attend.
  Quotations
  Among the Romans.... The free admission tickets were small ivory death's heads, and specimens of these are to be seen in the Museum of Naples. From this custom, it is stated, that we derive our word “Deadhead,” as denoting one who has a free entrance to places of amusement.
  1901, R. J. Broadbent, A History of Pantomime‎
  […] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.
  1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties, volume 24, page 246
2. An employee of a transport company, especially a pilot or flight attendant, traveling as a passenger for logistical reasons, for example to return home or travel to the next assignment.
  Quotations
  Are you my deadhead to Miami?
  2002, Steven Spielberg, Catch Me If You Can
3. Anyone traveling for free.
  Quotations
  With the check came two through tickets—good on the railroad from Hawkeye to Washington via New York—and they were “deadhead” tickets, too, which had been given to Senator Dilworthy by the railway companies. Senators and representatives were paid thousands of dollars by the government for traveling expenses, but they always traveled “deadhead” both ways, and then did as any honorable, high-minded men would naturally do—declined to receive the mileage tendered them by the government. The Senator had plenty of railway passes, and could. easily spare two to Laura—one for herself and one for a male escort.
  1873, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age, Part 4.
  I reckon I won't take the vote of any deadhead passenger.
  1882, Bret Harte, Found At Blazing Star‎
  PASSENGER One who does not travel on a pass. (Antonym for Deadhead). From Eng. pass, to go, and Grk. endidomi, to give up. One who has to give up to go.
  1904, Gideon Wurdz, The Foolish Dictionary‎
  The yap that kicks and rings a deadhead callMust either spend or else get off the car.
  1908, Wallace Irwin, The Love Sonnets of a Car Conductor‎
4. A train or truck moved between cities with no passengers or freight, in order to make it available for service.
5. A person staying at a lodging, such as a hotel or boarding house, without paying rent; freeloader.
  Quotations
  For the Caput mortuum (or deadhead, in vulgar phrase) is apt to be furnished with a Venter vivus, or, as we may say, a lively appetite.
  1872, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, The Poet At The Breakfast Table‎
  Haviland had a sense of humor; it would make a story too good to keep--the new oil operator, the magnificent and mysterious New York financier, a “deadhead” at the Ajax. Oh, murder!
  1922, Rex Beach, Flowing Gold‎
6. A stupid or boring person; dullard.
  Quotations
  “Listen, you two deadheads,” he growled at them, more viciously energetic than he meant, and both turned to stare. He softened his tone. “What's going on here, anyway? What kind of a morgue is this? Is this any way to spend my last four days in town? Come on, let's all go out and do something.”
  1967, James Jones, Go to the Widow-Maker, Delacorte Press (1967), 72
7. A tree or tree branch fixed in the bottom of a river or other navigable body of water, partially submerged or rising nearly the surface, by which boats are sometimes pierced and sunk; snag.
  Quotations
  A portable sawmill crew dredges the riverbed for sunken deadheads, many of which drowned during the hell-for-leather log-drives of the glory days. Rows of these mud-stained corpses are drawn up on shore at the old landings—all in perfect condition, and some of great value, for no such pine exists in the north woods today.
  1949, Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
8. (slang) Driftwood.
9. (slang) Alternative form of Deadhead (“fan of the rock band The Grateful Dead”)
10. (slang) A zombie.
  Quotations
  I was dreaming about working at Wal-Mart before the deadheads came.
  2010, Mark Tufo, Sylwia Serwinska, Zombie Fallout, page 148
verb
third-person singular simple present deadheads, present participle deadheading, simple past and past participle deadheaded
1. (transitive) To admit to a performance without charge.
  Quotations
  […] the "puffing" system in criticism, whereby newspaper people were deadheaded in exchange for complimentary notices.
  1960, Dissertation Abstracts, volume 20, page 2811
2. (intransitive) To travel as a deadhead, or non-paying passenger.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To drive an empty vehicle.
  Quotations
  Kit had fallen into conversation with a footplate man who was deadheading back out to Samarkand, where he lived with his wife and children.
  2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 845
4. (transitive) To send (a person or message) for free.
  Quotations
  Washington suggested that she get some old friend of the family to come with her, and said the Senator would “deadhead” him home again as soon as he had grown tired, of the sights of the capital.
  1873, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age, Part 4.
  He said that if the operator had taken $800 and sent the message at the regular rate, which was twenty-five cents, it would have been all right, as the Jew would be punished for trying to bribe a military operator; but when the operator took the $800 and then sent the message deadhead, he couldn't stand it, and he would never relent.
  1910, Frank Lewis Dyer, Thomas Commerford Martin, Edison, His Life and Inventions‎
  “I'll deadhead the message for you, Mr. Savage. It won't cost a thing.”
  1934, Lester Dent (as Kenneth Robeson), Brand Of The Werewolf, A Doc Savage Adventure
5. (transitive) To remove spent or dead blossoms from a plant.