head cold

plural head colds · alternative head-cold · alternative headcold

1. A common cold (illness).

   I am well except a head cold.

   1880, Emily Elizabeth Parsons, Memoir of Emily Elizabeth Parsons, page 50

   3 more examples

   Wroe would put a pillow in the oven, lay his head on it, and let the oven be heated as hot as he could bear it, to drive away a head cold.

   1874, Sabine Baring-Gould, Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events, page 54

   It is unwise to dive with a head cold.

   1971, Nicholas B. Zinkowski, Commercial Oil-field Diving, page 22

   A medical analogy: You have a head cold so you go to the doctor for advice.

   2005, David Hoyle, ISO 9000 Quality Systems Handbook, page 608

   Synonyms: pose