harebrain

English

Etymology

hare +‎ brain

Noun

harebrain (plural harebrains)

1. A person who lacks good sense; one who is foolish and reckless.
   • 1872, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays - Volume 3, page 452:

     ...rash harebrain treating matters that require age and gravity;

   • 1977, Vasa D. Mihailovich, White Stones and Fir Trees:

     At the moment she was watching something behind my back, undoubtedly that harebrain who was hanging over the street.

   • 2014, Dean O. Holiday, The Unfortunate Gift:

     He smiled uncontrollably while driving; and then, thought that other drivers looking at his face would conclude there goes an unhinged harebrain.

Adjective

harebrain (comparative more harebrain, superlative most harebrain)

1. Alternative form of harebrained
   • 1789, Saint Thomas More, The History of the Reigns of Edward V. and Richard III, page 122:

     I mean it (saith the king) by that same harebrain, wild-fellow, my subject, the Earl of Suffolk, who is protected in your country, and begins to play the fool, when all others are weary of it."

   • 1871, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy:

     " They commonly call the most harebrain blood-suckers, strongest thieves, the most desperate villains, treacherous rogues, inhuman murderers, rash, cruel and dissolute caitiffs, courageous and generous spirits, heroical and worthy captains, brave men at arms, valiant and renowned soldiers, possessed with a brute persuasion of false honour," as Pontus Huter in his Burgundian history complains.

   • 1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, New Arabian Nights:

     I suppose they also handed on to me a harebrain humour, which it has been my chief delight to indulge.

   • 2012, Frederick A. Patchen, Boho’S Quest for God: An Adult Fairy-Tale, page 91:

     It is a harebrain idea but it could be done.

Anagrams

• herbarian