What does cathead mean?
A cathead is a heavy beam projecting from each side of a ship's bow, designed to lift and support the vessel's anchor. By hauling the anchor up until it rested against or hung from the cathead, sailors could raise it clear of the hull and water, preventing damage to the ship as they got underway. The term belongs chiefly to the vocabulary of traditional seamanship and appears most often in descriptions of wooden sailing ships, naval history, and maritime literature. Catheads were typically stout timbers, sometimes elaborately carved with faces or figures, and worked together with devices such as the cat tackle to hoist the anchor — a process known as 'cating' the anchor. Though modern ships no longer use them, the word survives as a precise and evocative piece of nautical terminology, useful to anyone reading accounts of the age of sail.
nounA cathead is a heavy beam projecting from each side of a ship's bow, used to hold and support the anchor when it is raised or lowered.
- A heavy timber or iron beam projecting from either side of a ship's bow, used to raise and support the ship's anchor clear of the water and hull.
"The sailors secured the anchor over the cathead before weighing it for departure."
"The anchor was hauled up until it hung from the cathead at the ship's bow."
"On old square-rigged vessels, the cathead often bore a carved face or figure at its outer end."
The plural is standard because ships are normally fitted with two catheads, one on either side of the bow.
"Both catheads were freshly tarred ahead of the voyage."
The 'cat' in cathead has nothing to do with the animal — it's the carved figure often found at the end of the beam, and the phrase 'the anchor is at the cathead' was once standard sailing shorthand.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cathead
Cathead is an English compound formed simply from 'cat' plus 'head', first appearing in English maritime usage in the early seventeenth century. The element 'cat' here refers not to the animal but to the apparatus associated with hauling the anchor (the 'cat tackle'), though the ultimate reason for that nautical use of 'cat' is uncertain. It shares its transparent compound structure with other plain English formations such as 'hammerhead' and 'saddlebow'.
How cathead is actually used
Cathead is a technical term of seamanship, encountered mainly in historical, naval, and maritime contexts rather than everyday speech. It is always a count noun with the plural 'catheads', referring to one of the pair fitted on either side of the bow.
Easily confused with cathead
A cat is the familiar feline animal (or related terms like catamaran), whereas a cathead is a nautical beam on a ship used to stow the anchor.