Head of Cattle

Cattle are counted by the head; manufacturing labourers by hands, as “How many hands do you employ?” horses by the nose (See Nose); guests at dinner by the cover, as “Covers for ten,” etc. (See Numbers, Hand.)

⁂ In contracting for meals the contractor takes the job at so much “a head”—i.e. for each person.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.