hardihood \HAHR-dee-hood\,
noun:
1. boldness or daring; courage.
2. audacity or impudence.
3. strength; power; vigor: the hardihood of youth.
4. hardy spirit or character; determination to survive; fortitude: the hardihood of early settlers.
"...Make thee my knight? My knights are sworn to vows / Of utter hardihood, utter gentleness, / And, loving, utter faithfulness in love, / And uttermost obedience to the King."
-- Lord Alfred Tennyson, "Idylls of the King," 1872
They had to do with a pride in a man's courage and hardihood, courage and hardihood that could make of thefts, of murder, of crimes dimly guessed, wrongs no more reprehensible than a boy's apple-stealing.
-- Dashiell Hammett, "Ruffian's Wife," 1925
Hardihood came to English in the 1600s from the Old French hardir meaning "to harden" or "to make bold." This ultimately comes from the Proto-Germanic hardjan meaning "to make hard."
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