A rope or cable fastened to the head (front) of a ship, used for mooring or towing; a nautical term for forward mooring lines.
From 'head' (front of a ship) + 'fast' (a nautical term from Old Norse 'fastr' meaning secure or fixed). Used in maritime terminology since at least the 17th century.
Sailors had specific names for every rope on a ship—'headfast' was part of a precise vocabulary that allowed sailors to communicate clearly in dangerous, noisy conditions at sea!
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