the.com/warhead
The part of the missile that actually ruins your day; the rest is just taxi service.
means The explosive, chemical, or nuclear charge carried by a missile, rocket, or torpedo that actually does the destructive work.
from A straightforward 20th-century compound of 'war' plus 'head' — 'head' in the old sense of the forward or leading part of something, as in 'spearhead.' The word tracks the rise of guided missiles in the mid-1900s, when militaries needed a term for the business end of a weapon as distinct from the engine, fuel, and guidance system that merely carried it to the target.
- name origin
- war plus head, literally the business end
- candy version
- sour candy named for the pucker-inducing blast
- most are inert
- most missile mass is fuel and guidance, not explosive
- nuclear ones
- modern warheads can be smaller than a trash can