Green’s Dictionary of Slang

baldhead n.

1. an old man, esp. as an ogler of young women, e.g. chorus-girls.

[Aus]Rockhampton Bull. (Qld) 1 Oct. 3/2: It was but a simple and primitive society [...] when men caled each other Addlehead, Baldhead, Barebones, Bitch [...] Chisels, Dolt [...] Fogey [...] Gander [...] Maggot, Mangy, Muff, Muzzy.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Apr. 12/2: A miscreant sent us the following wretched conundrum last week:– ‘What is more appreciative of a good leg than a front-row baldhead at the ballet? […] A bulldog.’.
[US]Lantern (New Orleans, LA) 20 Oct. 4/2: Mike will push through the entire week to the pleasure of the bald-heads who like such shows.
[Aus]Dead Bird (Sydney) 5 July 1/3: ‘How do you like the body of this dress? D’you think it will go down?’ ‘If it goes down [...] another fraction of an inch [...] the stalls will be crammed with bald-heads’.
[[UK]Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 12 June 5/1: It is really a treat to see the beads of perspiration forming on the bald old heads of the front row as they watch the flying feet of this delightful artiste].
[UK]Mirror of Life 3 Mar. 2/4: what ‘baldheads’ admire [...] The ballet girl appears to be as attractive as ever, and her performance generally draws the old men in large numbers.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Oct. 12/4: The last time he spoke he put his foot in it: ‘When I went to Adelaide a little while ago,’ he told the House, in his halting accent, ‘I went and visited all the girls I could -’ ‘Oh! Oh!’ exclaimed the Baldheads.
[UK]J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
[Aus]Truth (Melbourne) 10 Jan. 11/5: If old baldhead is at their elbow [...] the chances are he is ogling their curves from behind.
[US]Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang Oct. 21: Lots of baldheads have been buying wine for baby dolls in New York for generations.
[US]Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl. 30: leg-show. Refined dancing and near-singing girlie show, patronized by successful bald-heads.
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
[US]Green & Laurie Show Biz from Vaude to Video 99: ‘Coax Me,’ was made famous by Lottie Gilson [...] who sang it alluringly to front-row baldheads on which she reflected the spotlight with a mirror.
[US]B. Veeck Veeck — as in Wreck 72: Greek spotted a line of baldheads in the seats a little below us.
[US](con. c.1930) G. Sothern Georgia 39: Up front were the bald heads, hot and sweating, staring up at us.
[US]Da Bomb 🌐 2: Bald-head: Old man. Hey, look over there by the cafeteria. There’s a bald-head.

2. (W.I.) a Rastafarian who does not, however, sport the characteristic beard and dreadlocks.

[WI]cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).
[WI]Bunny Wailer ‘Bald Head Jesus’ 🎵 All ye bald head Jesus followers start to fret / [...] / You’vew never seen the image of a bald head Jesus yet.

3. (N.Z./W.I., also ballhead) a white person.

[UK]D. Hebdige Subculture 59: It became all too easy for black youths to dismiss their white contemporaries along with the teachers, the police and the bosses as ‘Babylon’ or ‘crazy baldheads’.
[US]N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 332: They called white folks ‘baldheads’.
[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head (also bald’ead) n. 1 a person of European origin.

4. (W.I.) a non-Rastafarian black person.

[WI]Bob Marley ‘Crazy Baldheads’ 🎵 We gonna chase those crazy / Baldheads out of town.
[UK]D. Hebdige Subculture 150: ‘Crazy baldhead’ [...] refers literally to those who don’t wear ‘dreadlocks’.
[UK]P. Baker Blood Posse 155: Here we are cursing the gangs and calling them Yankee bald heads.
[WI]Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 2: Baldhead non-rastafarians; of unrighteous behaviour.
[US]C.D. Rosales Word Is Bone [ebook] There’s a bunch of bald heads running around on the grass.

5. (US black) a very closely shaved haircut; thus one who wears one, i.e. a skinhead.

[US]P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 92: Just don’t get one of those Jack-Johnson-black-buck-hey-look-at-me-I’m-an-athlete baldsheads.
[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head3 a skinhead or a neo-Nazi white supremacist gang-member .

as used in N.Z. prisons

(a) a Maori who explopits the white system to advance themself.

[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head 2 a M?ori who is materialistic and uses the P?keh? system to succeed.

(a) one who is unaffiliated to a gang.

[NZ]B. Payne Staunch: Inside the Gangs 19: [A] bald’ead - an outsider whom the Mongrel Mob go to great lengths to be different from.
[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head 4 any person not affiliated to a gang, esp. to the Mongrel Mob .

(a) a law-abiding citizen, esp. as part of the prison administration.

[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head 5 a 'straight' person, a law-abiding citizen [...] more specifically to [...] administrative officials within the Department of Corrections .

(a) an informer.

[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head 6 an informer .

(a) a new prisoner or gang member.

[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head7 a person new to, and unfamiliar with, a (criminal) situation, e.g. prison or a gang .

(a) one who is imprisoned for a very minor crime.

[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head 8 a person with no previous criminal record who ends up in prison for a very minor offence, such as the non-payment of a parking fine .

(a) a low-status prisoner, thus used as a general insult betw. gangs.

[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/2: bald head 9 an inmate of low status, usually one who has served little prison time [...] 10 a general derogatory tenn used between opposing gangs.