flathead

noun

• 1 (Flathead) a member of certain North American Indian peoples such as the Chinook, Choctaw, and Salish, named from their supposed practice of flattening their children’s heads artificially.
• the Salishan language spoken by those people.

• 2 informal a foolish person.

• 3an edible tropical marine fish that has a pointed flattened head with the eyes positioned on the top, typically burrowing in the seabed with just the eyes showing.

  • Family Platycephalidae: several genera and species

• 4US (of an engine) having the valves and spark plugs in the cylinder block rather than the cylinder head, which is essentially a flat plate.
• (of a vehicle) having a flathead engine.

• 5 [as modifier] US (of a screw) countersunk.