Headless

Origin

From Middle English heedles, hevedles, from Old English hēafodlēas ("headless"), equivalent to head + -less. Cognate with Dutch hoofdloos ("headless"), Danish hovedløs ("headless"), Swedish huvudlös ("headless"), Icelandic höfuðlaus ("headless").

Full definition of headless

Adjective

1. Without a head; decapitated.How did the headless horseman see to chase Ichabod?
2. Without a head in the sense of leadership.The headless army blundered along after the death of their general, accomplishing nothing.
3. (linguistics, of a phrase or compound) Not having a head morpheme or word.
4. (computing) Running without a user interface; specifically, running without a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
• 2003, William Boswell, Inside Windows Server 2003, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 978-0-7357-1158-7, page 62:/redirect

• 2007, Carla Schroder, Linux Networking Cookbook, O’Reilly Media (2008), ISBN 978-0-596-10248-7, page 47:Routers typically run headless, without a keyboard or monitor.
• 2010, Charles Bell et al., MySQL High Availability: Tools for Building Robust Data Centers, O'Reilly Media, ISBN 978-0-596-80730-6, page 278:This is not unexpected for a Windows system running as a virtual machine or a headless server

1. (of beer) Without a head of foam.
2. (obsolete) Destitute of understanding or prudence; foolish; rash.Witless headiness in judging or headless hardiness in condemning. — Spenser.

Derived terms

• headlessly
• headlessness
• run around like a headless chicken