Meaning & use
head shop
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Meanings
nouncountable
A shop that sells drug-related items such as pipes, rolling papers, and bongs, often along with posters and clothing.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a head shop' for one and 'head shops' for more than one.
Patterns
- a head shop sells something
- go to a head shop
- open a head shop
He bought a glass pipe at the head shop on the corner.
The town has three head shops, all within a block of the university.
She walked past the head shop without going in, though the window display was colorful.
nouncountable
A store selling counterculture goods such as incense, hemp bags, tapestries, and rock posters.
Grammar: Countable and often used in the plural when talking about a type of business: 'head shops are common here'.
Patterns
- a head shop sells something
- a chain of head shops
The head shop near the market sells incense, tapestries, and second-hand vinyl.
Many head shops now stock hemp clothing and candles as well as smoking accessories.
Tourists often mistake the head shop for an ordinary gift store.
Word forms
| plural | head shops |
|---|
Common combinations
- go to a head shop
- He went to a head shop to buy rolling papers.
- run a head shop
- They run a head shop in the old part of town.
- a local head shop
- The police visited every local head shop to explain the new rules.
- head shop owner
- A head shop owner complained that the rules were unclear.
- the head shop on the corner
- The head shop on the corner has been there for twenty years.
- a head shop window
- The head shop window was full of colorful glass pipes.
Synonyms and how they differ
- smoke shop
- A more neutral American term for a shop selling smoking supplies; it does not always suggest a counterculture atmosphere.
- novelty store
- A general term for a shop selling unusual gifts and gadgets, and it may have nothing to do with drug items.
Word family
- head noun
- Slang for a regular drug user, the word that gave 'head shop' its name.
Commonly confused: head shop or drugstore?
head shop vs drugstore
A drugstore is a pharmacy selling medicine and everyday goods, not pipes and drug accessories. The two are completely different kinds of shop.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'head shop' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A head shop sells pipes, rolling papers, and similar drug-related items, so the glass pipe fits. Medicine belongs in a drugstore, haircuts in a barber's, and coffee in a cafe.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “head shop”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.