airhead
/ˈɛɹˌ(h)ɛd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.31 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An area of hostile territory that has been seized for use as an airbase to ensure the further safe landing of troops and materiel.
noun
Alternative form of air-head (“a horizontal channel providing ventilation in a mine.”).
Archaic
Example Sentences
- "The only difference between an airhead and a beachhead is that an airhead covers 360 degrees whereas a beachhead usually covers 180 degrees. An airhead is two beachheads back to back with the reinforcements and resupply coming by air instead of by sea. [...] [T]o handle their mountainous proportions there must be in the airhead a sufficient number of trained and equipped airhead service troops."
- "In another war airheads will be more important than beachheads. Neither one will work unless we can keep it adequately supplied. The successful combat air force will require a huge transport fleet for air lift."
- "The initial airhead may in fact be a series of smaller airheads which, after landing, join up in combat structure as mutually supporting in a tactical sense."
- "The French quickly massed a division-sized force of airborne soldiers within the airhead. During the 55-day siege, over 4,000 reinforcements were parachuted into Dien Bien Phu."
- "Following the success of this raid, [Orde] Wingate realised that transport aircraft in radio contact with troops on the ground had revolutionised jungle warfare. He advocated a total restructuring of the Allied offensive so that instead of an overland advance, it would seize airheads and leapfrog forward by air to Hanoi, in Indochina."
- "He [Wilhelm Bittrich] commanded the 2nd S.S. Panzer Corps in Normandy and assisted in the wiping out of the British airhead at Arnhem in 1944."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɛɹˌ(h)ɛd/
- British English: /ˈɛə̯hɛd/