Log·ger·head n.
1. A blockhead; a dunce; a numskull.
2. A spherical mass of iron, with a long handle, used to heat tar.
3. Naut. An upright piece of round timber, in a whaleboat, over which a turn of the line is taken when it is running out too fast.
4. Zool. A very large marine turtle (Thalassochelys caretta syn. Thalassochelys caouana), common in the warmer parts of the Atlantic Ocean, from Brazil to Cape Cod; -- called also logger-headed turtle.
5. Zool. An American shrike (Lanius Ludovicianus), similar to the butcher bird, but smaller. See Shrike.
To be at loggerheads, To fall to loggerheads, or To go to loggerheads, to quarrel; to be at strife. --L' Estrange.
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butcher bird, butcher-bird, butcherbird n.
1. Zool. any species of shrike of the genus Lanius, so called because they impale their prey on thorns.
Note: ☞ The Lanius excubitor is the common butcher bird of Europe. In England, the bearded tit is sometimes called the lesser butcher bird. The American species are Lanius borealis, or northern butcher bird, and Lanius Ludovicianus or loggerhead shrike. The name butcher bird is derived from its habit of suspending its prey impaled upon thorns, after killing it.
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