ˈthick-ˈheaded, a.
[Parasynthetic f. prec. + -ed2.]
Having a thick head. a. lit.; esp. in names of animals, as thick-headed mullet, Moxostoma congesta; thick-headed shrike = thick-head 2 a.
| 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 314 Make a Trail..so as to bring it near some thick-headed Tree. 1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 569 The thick-headed Hippopotamus, with no tail. The Copy-Bara. |
b. fig. Dull of intellect; slow-witted, obtuse.
| 1801 M. Edgeworth Gd. French Gov. (1895) 7 He was so ‘thick-headed at his book’, that Mrs. Grace..affirmed that he never would learn to read. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxxv. 80 A thick-headed idea of law is, that it is a machine for getting men hanged. 1891 T. R. Lounsbury Stud. Chaucer II. vi. 481 Something of the feeling..which represents the members of the nobility as being good-hearted but also thick-headed. |
Hence thickˈheadedness, obtuseness, crassness.
| 1889 Voice (N.Y.) 14 Feb., He..failed to estimate the thickheadedness of the party addressed. 1892 Spectator 23 Jan. 126/2 Bumptious, bullying thickheadedness. |