warhead

English

Etymology

From war +‎ head, originally to distinguish a live war head of a torpedo from an inert exercise head. Piecewise doublet of war chief.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Noun

warhead (plural warheads)

  1. The part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition which contains either the nuclear or thermonuclear system, high explosive system, chemical or biological agents, or inert materials intended to inflict damage.
    • 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 281:
      "To their anchorage off Kodiak," Chuck says. "The Orthos were all ready. They had put together a crew of ex-Navy men, guys who had worked on nuke subs in the past—X-rays, they call them—and they came and took the sub over. As for us, we had no idea that any of this had happened. Until one of the warheads showed up in the goddamn front yard."
    • 1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:
      "Multi Bottle Rocket". Possibly the strongest weapon around, it does a lot of damage due to its massive warhead.
  2. (slang) The glans penis.

Derived terms

Translations

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