hardihead
hardihead is the alternative form of hardihood.
hardihead is the alternative form of hardyhead.
Meaning of hardihood
Noun
hardihood (countable and uncountable, plural hardihoods)
- Unyielding boldness and daring; firmness in doing something that exposes one to difficulty, danger, or calamity; intrepidness.
- […] he came to impart other news; to prepare the Earl for death; for the morrow was appointed for his execution. He received the intelligence with the firm hardihood of indignant virtue, disdaining to solicit, and disdaining to repine […]1789, Ann Ward Radcliffe, chapter 4, in The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, London: T. Hookham, page 81
- Excessive boldness; foolish daring; offensive assurance.
- […] that God should enact a dispensation for hard hearts to do that wherby they must live in priviledg’d adultery, however it go for the receav’d opinion, I shall ever disswade my self from so much hardihood as to beleeve:1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book I, page 25
- Of a plant, an ability to withstand extreme conditions, hardiness.
- The cheapness and hardihood of the musk-plant and marigold, to say nothing of their peculiar odour, has made them the most popular of “roots” […]1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, London: George Woodfall & Son, page 144
Meaning of hardyhead
Noun
hardyhead (plural hardyheads or hardyhead)
- Any of the sundry species of fish of the family Atherinidae found near Australia;
- Any fish of species Atherinomorus vaigiensis and Atherinomorus lacunosus, commonly found in Australian waters.
Forms of hardihead
| plural | hardiheads |
|---|---|
| plural | hardihead |
Origin of hardihead
From hardy + -head.
From the reference to its hardy or robust head.
Questions about hardihead
- What is hardihead the alternative form of?
- Hardihead is the alternative form of hardihood.
Words near hardihead in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hardihead (page history and authors); hardihood (page history and authors); hardyhead (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “hardihead.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hardihead. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.