headlong

1. not comparableWith the head first or down.

   1 more example

   [A] sharp-looking old dame, […] inhabited a "laigh [low] shop," anglicé [in English], a cellar, opening to the High-street by a strait and steep stair, at the bottom of which she sold tape, thread, needles, skeans of worsted, coarse linen cloth, and such feminine gear, to those who had the courage and skill to descend to the profundity of her dwelling, without falling headlong themselves, or throwing down any of the numerous articles which, piled on each side of the descent, indicated the profession of the trader below.

   1816, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 4

   Synonyms: head first · Antonyms: feet first

2. not comparableWith an unrestrained forward motion.

   Figures out today show the economy plunging headlong into recession.

   3 more examples

   When his eyes were clear again, he saw the monster had passed and was rushing landward. Big iron upper-works rose out of this headlong structure, and from that twin funnels projected, and spat a smoking blast shot with fire into the air. It was the torpedo-ram, Thunder Child, steaming headlong, coming to the rescue of the threatened shipping.

   1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The ‘Thunder Child’”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, (please specify the page number(s))

   Realizing he is now boxed in on all sides, Hipper decides the only remaining card he has to play is to sell his ships as dearly as possible. The remaining German ships make a hard turn southeast, and drive headlong at the Grand Fleet. It is a brave gesture, but only eight of the ships emerge from the pall of smoke that roughly marks the original German line of advance. Two more emerge minutes later, but that is all.

   2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 24:24 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2022

   I felt deja vu as I recalled a video in which a Tesla owner slammed on the brakes after his car appeared set on crashing headlong into a construction site.

   2021 November 18, Matt McFarland, “We tried Tesla’s ‘full self-driving.’ Here’s what happened”, in CNN

3. not comparableRashly; precipitately; without deliberation; in haste, hastily.

comparative more headlong · superlative most headlong

1. Precipitous.

   Their path led them past sharp cliffs, along narrow trails unknown and untrodden, past headlong boulders strewn across barren, treeless, wind-haunted heights.

   1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 35

2. Plunging downwards head foremost.

   On sighting their prey, they check their flight and hurtle in a headlong dive to the sea.

   1993, Michael Hume Jackson, Galapagos, a Natural History, page 143

3. Rushing forward without restraint.

   Bumps, bruises, and scratches are often the result of their efforts to outstrip each other in the headlong race.

   1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 243

4. figurativelyReckless; impetuous.

   “Time is up,” cried another boy, more headlong than head-monitor.

   1869, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, […], →OCLC

present singular third person headlongs · participle present headlonging · participle past headlonged · past headlonged

1. transitiveTo precipitate.

   Carriages went up and down in endless pageant. Trolley-cars rushed by, clanging and grinding as they headlonged into the side streets.

   1905, Liberty Hyde Bailey, The outlook to nature

   1 more example

   If a stranger be setting his pace and face toward some deep pit, or steep rock — such a precipice as the cliffs of Dover — how do we cry aloud to have him return ? yet in mean time forget the course of our own sinful ignorance, that headlongs us to confusion.

   1862, Thomas Adams, The works of Thomas Adams