headend

1 8.2

A place that gets television signals, makes them ready, and sends them to homes

noun
/ˈhɛdˌɛnd/

Specialized

: cabeza de red

Many cable companies invest in their headends.

Examples

A power outage at the headend disrupted television service for the entire city.
The headend is crucial for signal distribution.
The technicians upgraded the headend to improve the quality of cable TV services.
All incoming satellite signals are processed at the headend before being sent to subscribers.
The engineer visited the headend to ensure all signals were being processed correctly.
A modern headend features advanced technology for managing numerous cable channels efficiently.
The technician installed new equipment at the cable headend to improve signal quality.

Surface Forms

headend singular

headends plural

Morphology

headend = head + end (semi-transparent) = head + end

The components 'head' and 'end' are recognizable, but the compound denotes a specialized technical facility rather than a literal 'head' or 'end'.

Etymology

The word headend is a modern compound of head and end, meaning the 'head' or main control point at the top of a cable or broadcast system. So a headend is the central place that receives, processes, and sends out TV and radio signals to homes.