Headrigg

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The strip of ground at the end of a ploughed field where a plough turns around before working the next furrow
2. The uncultivated border at the top end of a field, where the plough is turned and the rows meet
3. A narrow headland at the far end of a cultivated field, left free so that ploughing teams can turn their animals

Etymology: In the ploughed fields of Scotland and northern England, the headrig was the strip of ground at either end of a field, where the plough team turned around and the furrows ended. It was the field's end-ridge, a headland that was left in place rather than cut into rows. The second half, "rig," is an older word for a ridge of raised ground. It comes from Old English "hrycg," meaning "back" or "spine," which is also the source of the modern "ridge." The same word shifted in northern dialects into "rig" and came to name the raised beds that medieval farmers ploughed into hillsides. So the term combines "head," meaning the end or extremity of something, with a word originally used for the back of a body.