pinheadedadj.
/ˌpɪnˈhɛdᵻd/, U.S. /ˈpɪnˌ(h)ɛdəd/ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [adjective] > having or relating to parts > of or having stamens or pistils > of or having style, pistil, or female parts > having specific quantity, form, or arrangement
capitated1682
included1751
pinheaded1751
monogynous1757
pentagynous1772
trigynous1775
monogynian1787
polygynous1795
pin-eyed1810
heptagynian1828
pentagynian1828
polygynian1828
tetragynian1828
octagynous1836
stigmatose1840
polygynious1841
heptagynious1854
monogynious1857
octagynious1857
pentagynious1857
tetragynious1860
tetrastylous1860
trigynious1860
monogynic1891
tristigmatose1891
tristylous1891
tetragynous1899
tristigmatic1900
1751 J. Hill Gen. Nat. Hist. II. i. 44 The black, pin-headed Leotia.
1755 C. Linnaeus Flora Svecica (ed. 2) 114 Pinheaded cobweb mushroon [sic].
1829 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Plants 1035 Trichia,... These are pin-headed plants, growing upon old wood, and very rarely seen in this country.
1861 C. Darwin in Jrnl. Linn. Soc. 6 77 Florists who cultivate the Polyanthus and Auricula..call those which display the globular stigma at the mouth of the corolla ‘pin headed’ or ‘pin-eyed’.
1881 P. Henderson Handbk. Plants 306/1 Capitate, having a head; pin-headed, as the stigma of the Primrose.
2.
a. That has a very small head (resembling that of a pin).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > types of head > [adjective] > having
headedOE
cop-headed1519
small-headedc1540
jolt-headed1552
chuff-headed1563
ass-headed1584
two-headed1596
golden-headed1598
hard-headed1601
big-headed1614
bicipitous1646
buffle-headed1654
female-headed1655
heavy-headed1684
bullet-headed1699
jolter-headed1748
pinheaded1771
pigheaded1774
thin-headed1804
roundhead1842
bulbous-headed1860
blob-headed1865
occipital1873
fat-headed1883
mesopic1885
peanut-headed1906
dome-headed1910
1771 D. Henry Compl. Eng. Farmer xiv. 78 I prefer those [cows]..that have large broad foreheads and thin necks, to those that are pin-headed, as the phrase is, and bull necked.
1894 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 17 Feb. 4/5 It [sc. eczema] is thousands of pin-headed vesicles filled with an acrid fluid.
1918 W. Cather My Ántonia i. xiii. 107 The mottled, pin-headed guinea-hens..ran screeching out into the tunnel.
1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom xiii. 178 A pin-headed, slick-haired man.
1991 Atlantic Apr. 20/1 My too-tall, wire-rimmed, pinheaded form caught their eye.
b. figurative (derogatory). Having a small brain; lacking intelligence; foolish.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [adjective]
sloweOE
stuntc960
dullOE
hardOE
stuntlyc1000
sotc1050
dillc1175
dulta1225
simplea1325
heavy1340
astonedc1374
sheepishc1380
dull-witteda1387
lourd1390
steerishc1411
ass-likea1425
brainless?a1439
deafc1440
sluggishc1450
short-witted1477
obtuse1509
peakish1519
wearish1519
deaf, or dumb as a beetle1520
doileda1522
gross1526
headlessa1530
stulty1532
ass-headed1533
pot-headed1533
stupid?1541
sheep's head1542
doltish1543
dumpish1545
assish1548
blockish1548
slow-witted1548
blockheaded1549
surd1551
dull-headed1552
hammer-headed1552
skit-brained?1553
buzzardly1561
witless1562
log-headeda1566
assy1566
sottish1566
dastardly1567
stupidious1567
beetle-headed1570
calvish1570
bluntish1578
cod's-headed1578
grout-headed1578
bedaft1579
dull-pated1580
blate1581
buzzard-like1581
long-eared1582
dullard1583
woodena1586
duncical1588
leaden-headed1589
buzzard1592
dorbellical1592
dunstical1592
heavy-headeda1593
shallow-brained1592
blunt-witted1594
mossy1597
Bœotian1598
clay-brained1598
fat1598
fat-witted1598
knotty-pated1598
stupidous1598
wit-lost1599
barren1600
duncifiedc1600
lourdish1600
stockish1600
thick1600
booby1603
leaden-pated1603
partless1603
thin-headed1603
leaden-skulledc1604
blockhead1606
frost-brained1606
ram-headed1608
beef-witted1609
insulse1609
leaden-spirited1609
asininec1610
clumse1611
blockheadly1612
wattle-headed1613
flata1616
logger-headeda1616
puppy-headeda1616
shallow-patedc1616
thick-brained1619
half-headed1621
buzzard-blinda1625
beef-brained1628
toom-headed1629
thick-witted1634
woollen-witted1635
squirrel-headed1637
clod-pated1639
lean-souled1639
muddy-headed1642
leaden-witteda1645
as sad as any mallet1645
under-headed1646
fat-headed1647
half-witted1647
insipid1651
insulsate1652
soft-headed1653
thick-skulleda1657
muddish1658
non-intelligent1659
whey-brained1660
sap-headed1665
timber-headed1666
leather-headeda1668
out of (one's) tree1669
boobily1673
thoughtless1673
lourdly1674
logger1675
unintelligenta1676
Bœotic1678
chicken-brained1678
under-witted1683
loggerhead1684
dunderheaded1692
unintelligible1694
buffle-headed1697
crassicc1700
numbskulled1707
crassous1708
doddy-polled1708
haggis-headed1715
niddy-noddy1722
muzzy1723
pudding-headed1726
sumphish1728
pitcher-souleda1739
duncey1743
hebete1743
chuckheaded1756
dumb1756
duncely1757
imbecile1766
mutton-headed1768
chuckle-headed1770
jobbernowl1770
dowfarta1774
boobyish1778
wittol1780
staumrel1787
opaquec1789
stoopid1791
mud-headed1793
borné1795
muzzy-headed1798
nog-headed1800
thick-headed1801
gypit1804
duncish1805
lightweight1809
numbskull1814
tup-headed1816
chuckle-pate1820
unintellectuala1821
dense1822
ninnyish1822
dunch1825
fozy1825
potato-headed1826
beef-headed1828
donkeyish1831
blockheadish1833
pinheaded1837
squirrel-minded1837
pumpkin-headed1838
tomfoolish1838
dundering1840
chicken-headed1842
like a bump on a log1842
ninny-minded1849
numbheadeda1852
nincompoopish1852
suet-brained1852
dolly1853
mullet-headed1853
sodden1853
fiddle-headed1854
numb1854
bovine1855
logy1859
crass1861
unsmart1861
off his chump1864
wooden-headed1865
stupe1866
lean-minded1867
duffing1869
cretinous1871
doddering1871
thick-head1873
doddling1874
stupido1879
boneheaded1883
woolly-headed1883
leaden-natured1889
suet-headed1890
sam-sodden1891
dopey1896
turnip-headed1898
bonehead1903
wool-witted1905
peanut-headed1906
peanut-brained1907
dilly1909
torpid-minded1909
retardate1912
nitwitted1917
meat-headed1918
mug1922
cloth-headed1925
loopy1925
nitwit1928
lame-brained1929
dead from the neck up1930
simpy1932
nail-headed1936
square-headed1936
dingbats1937
pinhead1939
dim-witted1940
pea-brained1942
clueless1943
lobotomized1943
retarded1949
pointy-headed1950
clottish1952
like a stunned mullet1953
silly (or crazy) as a two-bob watch1954
out to lunch1955
pin-brained1958
dozy1959
eejity1964
out of one's tiny mind1965
doofus1967
twitty1967
twittish1969
twatty1975
twattish1976
blur1977
dof1979
goofus1981
dickheaded1991
dickish1991
numpty1992
cockish1996
1837 Boston Courier 18 Sept. 1/2 His conduct must be pronounced rather the effusion of a ‘pin-headed’ third rate managing politician, than of the enlightened statesman.
1876 Galaxy Mag. Mar. 363/1 In many things the natives were taught to lead better and purer lives, as we look at them from our pin-headed standpoint.
1901 G. Ade 40 Mod. Fables 67 Is it not Sad to see a pin-headed Rake dissipating a Large Fortune?
1928 P. G. Wodehouse in Strand Mag. Aug. 107 People..were accustomed to set him down as just an ordinary pinheaded young man.
2001 Spectator 3 Mar. 17 The It Girls..are up in arms about their reputation as pin-headed parasites.
Derivatives
pinˈheadedness n. Chiefly in sense 2.In quot. 1884: the formation of minute rounded masses in flour.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [noun]
hardnessOE
stuntnessc1000
sotshipc1050
witlessnessa1100
sotheada1200
dullness1398
bluntness1483
slowness1495
grossnessa1530
stupidity?1541
assishness?1548
dastardness1552
lourderie1555
dastardliness1556
blockishness1561
doltishness1569
sottage1569
sheepishness1574
doltry1581
sottishness1589
doltage1593
dorbellism1593
grout-headry1600
opacity1611
duncery1615
dunstery1615
stupidness1619
hebetude1621
insulsity1623
unintelligence1634
obtuseness1648
jobbernowlism1652
dullery1653
non-intelligence1653
blockheadishness1656
crassness1664
blockheadedness1716
stolidness1727
blockheadism1753
numbskullity1779
nincompoophood1791
duncishness1805
numbskullism1806
foziness1821
noodledum1821
obtusity1823
soft-headedness1823
noodledom1827
duncehood1829
dunderheadedness1830
sumphishness1830
asininity1831
dunderheadism1836
stockishness1837
dullardness1840
fat-headedness1840
stupor1845
duncedom1847
misintelligence1848
nincompoopery1850
wooden-headedness1850
dumminess1852
jolterheadedness1852
ninnyship1852
donkeyism1855
dumbness1860
beef-wittedness1863
crassitude1865
donkeyhood1869
slow-wittedness1869
chuckle-headedness1880
leatherheadedness1880
pinheadedness1884
numbskulledness1885
donkeydom1889
thickheadedness1889
density1894
moronism1922
nitwittedness1931
nitwittery1931
noodleness1931
dopiness1942
squirrel-headedness1955
nincompoopism1957
dim-wittedness1960
clottishness1961
1884 Rep. Sel. Comm. Commissariat & Transport Services (Egyptian Campaign) (Minutes of Evid.) 424 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 285) X. 1 The factor first of all looks at it, then he feels it for what is called pinheadedness; which means that, if there is any fermentation setting in, the flour will get into very small tiny balls.
1920 Western Druggist Nov. 348/2 The head of the store put his foot down and..forbade the printing of the article. This is pinheadedness.
1927 Sunday Times Signal (Zanesville, Ohio) 24 Apr. (Mag.) The slavery and oppression of independent thought..under the heels of bigotry, dumb habit,..pinheadedness and pigheadedness of the uninspired.
1958 Think June 20/1 In those rare instances where the brain does not grow, microcephaly, ‘pinheadedness’, is the result, and the child is then an idiot.
1986 Telos Fall 123 The disaffected ‘culture critic’—appalled by the pinheadedness of his colleagues, insulted by the vulgarities of the market,..dreaming of better days.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1751