a.
1. Lacking strength of mind or purpose.
1654. [see SISTERNITY].
1705. De Foe, Consolidator, Wks. 1840, IX. 387. A weak-headed prince, who neither had a right to give his crown, nor a brain to know what he was doing.
1889. Labouchere, in Daily News, 20 Feb., 3/2. A more weak-kneed, weak-headed lot of men could not be conceived.
1908. W. W. Jacobs, Salthaven, xiii. 154. He’s hinting now that I’m too bashful to speak up, and that weak-headed Cecilia Willett believes him.
2. Easily overcome by strong liquor.
Hence Weak-headedness.
1894. Ld. Dufferin, in Lady Dufferin’s Poems & Verses, 15, footnote. In contrast to Sheridan’s weak-headedness, I may cite the instance of my paternal grandfather…. He would occasionally begin a convivial evening with what he called a ‘clearer,’ i.e., a bottle of port [etc.].
