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. Mar. 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. 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 Thickheadedness, 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.
