hare-brained

hare-brained (comparative more hare-brained, superlative most hare-brained)

1. Alternative form of harebrained
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     “… That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. […] If she had her way, she’d ruin the company inside a year with her hare-brained schemes ; love of the people, and that sort of guff.”

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Professor Challenger Goes Forth to Battle”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "They all yelped, I remember, like a kennelful of puppies. It was their preposterous claim that I should read their hare-brained literature which caused me to display some little heat."

   • 1929, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, Penguin Books, paperback edition, page 62

     And so, putting her back on the shelf, I turned to the other great lady, The Duchess whom Lamb loved, hare-brained, fantastical Margaret of Newcastle, her elder, but her contemporary.

   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk

     Smalling’s first booking had come eight minutes earlier for standing in front of Joe Hart to block the goalkeeper’s kick and it is hard to think of too many occasions in the history of this fixture when one of the players has been so hare-brained – or “stupid”, to use Van Gaal’s description.

• “hare-brained”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.