Other forms: headsets
A headset is earphones with a microphone attached, worn to take calls or to talk while playing a game. The microphone is what makes it a headset rather than headphones, and that is the only difference.
The word is standard in call centres, aviation, gaming and video meetings, and it has picked up a second life in virtual reality — a VR headset covers the eyes rather than the ears. There is also an unrelated engineering sense: on a bicycle, the headset is the set of bearings that lets the forks turn in the frame, which is why a cycling shop and an electronics shop will hand you very different things.
1nounheadsetEarphones with a microphone, worn for calls.
“She put her headset on and took the next call.”
synonyms: headphones
2noundeviceA device worn over the eyes for virtual reality.
“The headset is heavier than it looks.”
3nounbicycleOn a bicycle, the bearings that let the forks turn.
“The headset needs tightening — the steering is loose.”
headset is a device worn on the head.
Proto-Indo-European
*kap-
English, today
headset
From head + set.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Office & Admin, Cycling