1. The originating point or central facility of a cable television system where signals are received, processed, and distributed to subscribers.
Usage: telecommunications; plural of headend
2. The upstream end or source point of a stream, river, or water system.
Usage: geography; plural of headend

Examples

• The cable company operates multiple headends across the region to serve different areas.
• Modern headends use digital technology to manage thousands of channels.
• The river's headends are located in the mountain range to the north.
• Network engineers monitor the headends to ensure signal quality.
• Several headends were upgraded to support higher bandwidth last year.