Obs. Forms: 5 fool hardiesse, 6 fool(e)hardise, -ize, 7 foole-hardice. [In 15th c. folehardiesse, f. FOOLHARDY, after HARDIESSE; subsequently assimilated in form to COWARDICE.] = FOOLHARDINESS.
1475. The Boke of Noblesse (1860), 63. Whiche by theire fole-hardiesse and be the proprete and nature of grene age causid the patrimonie of Lelius and Scipion to be lost.
1591. Spenser, Ruins Rome, xiv.
| And as the coward beasts vse to despise | |
| The noble Lion after his liues end, | |
| Whetting their teeth, and with vaine foolhardise | |
| Daring the foe, that cannot him defend. |
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, V. xxiii. 79.
| He term’d him proud and vaine, his worth in fight | |
| He call’d foole-hardice, rashnes, madnes, right. |
