headward

English

Etymology

head +‎ -ward

Adjective

headward (not comparable)

1. (geology) Cutting backwards or upstream above the original source.
   • 2001 November 23, Paul Tapponnier et al., “Oblique Stepwise Rise and Growth of the Tibet Plateau”, in Science‎^[1], volume 294, number 5547, →DOI, pages 1671–1677:

     The highest, flattest, and smoothest part of Tibet (3 ) is the central, Oligo-Miocene plateau, mature but still sheltered, especially in the west, from headward erosion.

   • 2000 June 30, Michael C. Malin, Kenneth S. Edgett, “Evidence for Recent Groundwater Seepage and Surface Runoff on Mars”, in Science‎^[2], volume 288, number 5475, →DOI, pages 2330–2335:

     [View Larger Version of this Image (130K GIF file)] Discussion The martian landforms resemble terrestrial gullies, which form by a combination of processes, including overland flow, headward sapping (32 ), debris flow, and other mass movements (33 )--all processes that, on Earth, involve the action of water.

   • 1999 August 20, Stanley W. Trimble, “Decreased Rates of Alluvial Sediment Storage in the Coon Creek Basin, Wisconsin, 1975-93”, in Science‎^[3], volume 285, number 5431, →DOI, pages 1244–1246:

     Even without the structures, there was a morphological feedback: As headward stream channels widened from lateral erosion, new floodplains developed that were lower, fine textured, and vegetated (Fig. 3 ), a condition noted in 1975 (2 ).

2. Toward the head.
   • 2014, Frederick I. Ordway, Advances in Space Science and Technology - Volume 4, →ISBN, page 153:

     When lift is applied, forces are experienced which appear to the pilot as being applied from a headward direction, i.e., from head to toe.

Adverb

headward (not comparable)

1. In a headward direction.
   • 1957, John L. Cotter, New Discoveries at Jamestown‎^[4]:

     As the isthmus disappeared at the close of the 17th century, the river continued to erode the island headward and build it up at its downstream end, so that the western and southern shores where the first settlement had been built, were partly destroyed.

Anagrams

• drawhead