hard head

US: (härd′hed′)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

hard′ head′, [Metall.]

1. Metallurgy semirefined tin containing iron.

Also, hardhead. 

• 1510–20

hard•head¹  (härd′hed′), n. 

1. a shrewd, practical person.
2. a blockhead.
3. Fish a freshwater fish, Mylopharodon conocephalus, of California.
4. Fish the Atlantic croaker. See under croaker (def. 2).
5. Invertebrates See hardhead sponge. 
6. Plant Biology hardheads. a common knapweed, Centaurea nigra.
7. See hard head. 

• hard + head 1510–20

hard•head²  (härd′hed′), n. 

1. Currency an alloyed silver coin of Scotland, issued in the 16th and 17th centuries, equal to one and one-half pence and later to twopence. Also called lion. 

• French hardit, after Philip III, named le Hardi the Bold (1245–85), king of France, who first issued the coin
• perh. (by folk etymology) 1555–65