Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a derog. term of general abuse, occas. nickname.

1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 242: You big shithead.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 813: Kotz, kotz. The shithead. [Ibid.] 814: No wonder they had such stupid shitheads for officers, if they give them such childish examinations as this.
1959		T.C. Bambara ‘Sweet Talk’ in Gorilla, My Love (1972) 125: Eddie is a shithead.
1962		S. Longstreet Flesh Peddlers (1964) 48: At COK there were various ways of labeling clients [...] In descending order there were the creep, kook, screwball, shathead.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 200: I’m gonna get even with you, you shithead you!
1973		S. Ace Stand On It (1979) 171: Hellfire, I don’t like flying all that much anyway, you shitheads.
1973		G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 92: You oughta go to the Home, you shithead.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 62: ‘So what d’you want to do, shithead?’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 223: In a slack voice Murdock said, ‘Fuck you, shithead’.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 38: What you’re looking for, shithead, is in the local yellow-pages.
1992		P. Earley Hot House 226: [of prisoners] ‘This is all a big game,’ Lacy said [...] ‘They try to beat us [i.e. prison officers] and we try to beat them. Sometimes the shitheads win and sometimes the good guys win’.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 18: Pro’ly homeless shiteheads from Mersey.
1998		R.G. Barrett Goodoo Goodoo 256: You’re here now, shithead. What do you want to fuckin’ know?
1999		K. Sampson Powder 98: The girl was a shithead.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 350: Patronisin bastard, tha Malcolm. Southern England, see; Sassenach. Saesneg shit’ed.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 120: It was the best part of my job, sending shitheads up the river.
2004		R.G. Barrett Rosa Marie’s Baby (2013) [ebook] ‘You sort Shithead out and fly back’.
2009		T. Black Gutted 2: I quickly hoyed his face down onto my boot. ‘Taste that, shithead’.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘Notes you take on duty are discoverable. Some defense attorney shithead will deliberately misinterpret them’.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 20: He’s like the perfect shithead. He attracts the complex and simple thoughts of all shitheads and he explains them to me.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 33: ‘Any shithead watches CSI knows to use [gloves]’.

2. (US drugs) a heroin addict.

1982		A. Shaw Dict. Pop/Rock.
1983		J. Ciardi A Second Browser’s Dict. 248: Shithead [...] 2. A heroin addict.
2012		L. Jose ‘Underhooks’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] All the shitheads and tradies ended up keeping WA arm.

3. (US prison) a prison guard.

1992

S.L. Hills Tragic Magic 137: Inmates hate guards – we call them bulls, hacks, COs, shit-heads, police.

4. (N.Z. prison) a member of various gangs.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 164/2: shithead n. 1 a skinhead gang-member 2 a motorcycle gang-member, esp. a member of the Road Knights or the Southern Vikings.