Definition of "head-to-head" [head-to-head]

• In direct confrontation or conflict at close quarters: The two brothers went at it head-to-head. It was a head-to-head contest all the way. (adverb)
• Arranged in a line with the heads adjacent to each other: The bunk beds were set up head-to-head. (adverb)
• Running close together in the same direction; neck and neck: The horses ran mostly head-to-head. (adverb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In short head-to-head tests, five instruments were preferred at roughly equal rates and one was distinctly disfavored: a Stradivarius."
• "They are focused like a laser on Romney, who continues to run about even with the president in national head-to-head presidential preference polls."
• "Relevant also is the fact that Mormonism and evangelicalism are both proselytizing faiths, and thus are often in head-to-head competition for converts.12"