? Obs. Also 6 cholt-, iolte-, ioulte-, iollt-, 7 ioult-. [Origin obscure: see note to JOUT v.]
† 1. prop. jolt head: A large, clumsy or heavy head; a stupid head. Obs.
1533. More, Debell. Salem, Wks. 993/1. A mastyffe hath … a greate iolte head, and a great mosel.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, V. viii. Your red saucy cap, that seemes (to me) Nayl’d to your iolt-head.
1680. Lond. Gaz., No. 1531/4. The other a darker Bay with a jolt head.
1701. Grew, Cosmol. Sacra, I. v. § 25. He must then have had a Jolt Head.
2. A heavy-headed or thick-headed person; a blockhead. Also attrib.
1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 126. Take him for a ioultehedd and a senseless brute.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, Prol. (Rtldg.), 18. Hearken, Joltheads.
1767. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, IX. xxv. Ninny-hammers, goose-caps, jolt-heads.
attrib. 1664. Flodden F., I. 7. At home is left none in the Land, But joult-head Monks and brosten Fryers.
