headache bar

n. a tube or beam suspended horizontally so as to block or bang against vehicles that are too tall for passage; a vehicle’s roll bar or headache rack; any horizontal tube or beam with which a person could collide. Subjects: English, Automobiles & Transportation, Slang

Editorial Note: The Historical Dictionary of American Slang dates the near-synonym headache post to 1887.

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Citations: 1961 Lincoln Evening Journal (Nebraska) (Apr. 19) (in classifieds) p. 47: 1951 F6 Ford.…12’ Steel Decked Flat Bed, with under bed too compartments, “Headache Bar”…Pintle Hook…Power take off Extension to rear of bed. 1983 Julie Gangler @ Anchorage, Alaska Los Angeles Times (June 19) “Alaska: Not Too Big for a Weekend” p. F13: You can walk right up to the huge, H-shaped “headache bars” that lift the 48-inch-diameter pipeline eight feet off the ground; the bars allow it to slide and shift with changes in temperature. 1985 T. Mangold The Tunnels of Cu Chi (Apr. 1) p. 171: A “headache bar” over the driver’s seat protected him from falling debris. 1988 Matthew Cox Post-Standard (Jan. 28) “Salina Residents Voice Opposition to Route 370 Changes” p. B1: The state is also considering the installation of a “headache bar.” That is a device that would use chains hanging from an overhead sign near the bridge to warn a trucker that his vehicle is too tall for the clearance. “Trucks would strike the chains before the bridge.” [1993 Richard Manning A Good House (Apr.) p. 62: Our tools were round-pointed shovels of the common variety and a 6-foot steel pry bar that weights about 20 pounds.…One swings the steel bard (my Dad taught me to call it a “headache bar") on a vertical stroke like a pile driver.] 1995 Thomas Hackett @ Morrisville News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) (Oct. 27) “Airtight Security Creates Minor Annoyances” p. A1: Keeping larger vehicles, such as trucks and vans, out of the hourly lots by means of the headache bar. 1999 Christian Aagaard Kitchener-Waterloo Record (Ontario, Canada) (Mar. 29) “His interest in world affairs never ‘flags’” p. B01: Each set of steel posts holds up another length of steel that spans Weber Street. Warning signs announce the height restriction. If the signs are ignored, trucks that are too tall will hit the steel and, the idea goes, stop before they collide with the formwork. And the name for the trusty crossbar? Engineers call it a “headache beam.” 2006 Colorado Springs Gazette (Colorado) (Nov. 4) “Many drivers ignoring signs”: The city added a height restriction, designed to eliminate most of the trucks that would also violate the weight limit. They installed what’s euphemistically called a “headache bar,” a section of PVC pipe strung across the road.

Posted 8 Nov 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend