Green’s Dictionary of Slang

foolish; stubborn; thus bullheadedness n.

1597		G. Harvey Trimming of Thomas Nashe C4: I pray let me christen you a newe [...] the very bull-headed of all the troope of pamphleteers.
a.1661		‘Saint George and the Dragon’ in Rump Poems and Songs (1662) ii 181: And take in that Bull-headed, splay-footed Member of Circumcision, / You Bacon-fac’d Jew, Corbet: that Son of Perdition.
1797		‘T.B. Junr.’ Pettyfogger Dramatized I iii: Bats is a good sort of a jolly-fellow;—a little bull-headed, or so—but he has brains enough for the Common Law.
1818		W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian (1883) 192: Their bull-headed obstinacy.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 123: They are bull-necked, bull-headed folks, I vow; sulky, ugly-tempered, vicious critters.
1844		A. Smith Adventures of Mr Ledbury II 229: A bull-headed fellow.
1853		Ohio Organ (Cincinatti, OH) 9 Dec. 7/2: A strong, surly, bull-headed ‘navvy’, whose leg had been smashed by a railway accident.
1855		W.G. Simms Forayers 101: For a fellow that knows how to use cold steel, I reckon, Skin-the-Sarpent, you’re about the most bull-headed.
1861		letter in Silber & Sievens Yankee Correspondence (1996) 57: That big bull-headed Goddard getting his muscle up on salt junk and crackers!
1868		Dundee Courier 10 Aug. 3/6: ‘I’ll try the two women first,’ said the bull-headed justice.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 329: Well, then, let it go, let it go, if you’re so bullheaded about it.
1899		J.W. Davis Gawktown Revival Club 24: I sincerely hope the church will have no reason to regret her bull-headedness in this matter.
1900		R.H. Savage Brought to Bay 106: It had never occurred to the bull-headed English athlete that his brother might have some lurking designs of his own!
1904		St Paul Globe 19 Dec. 5/4: I’m bullheaded and where he has given up going after me I’m set for his scalp.
1911		Little Falls Herald (Morrison Co., MN) 8 Sept. 7/2: The knowledge that he has no chance of re-election has made President Taft ill-tempered, dictatorial and bullheaded.
1924		C.E. Mulford Hopalong Cassidy Returns 17: Owin’ to yore bull-headed nature we ain’t crossin’ no desert.
1939		L. Short Raiders of the Rimrock 37: ‘I came to apologize.’ ‘For being bull-headed?’ Martha asked, smiling.
1944		E.S. Gardner Case of the Crooked Candle (1958) 71: I know his type [...] Bullheaded, obstinate, cunning.
1956		‘James Updyke’ [W.R. Burnett] It’s Always Four O’Clock 134: ‘[Y]ou just get a bullheaded idea that you do and stick to it’.
1967		J. Schaefer Mavericks (1968) 166: What I don’t understand, is [...] why you keep on being so bullheaded about mustangs.
1974		C. Loken Come Monday Morning 105: Liar. Bragger. Mean. Bullheaded.
1979		(con. 1949) J. Hurling Boomers 159: I’m stubborn, bullheaded.
1991		O.D. Brooks Legs 17: I should have taken Bert’s advice and butted the cigarette, but my bullheaded pride wouldn’t let me.
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 82: Shit-fuck-damnation, boy [...] forgot how bullheaded you are.