1725. New Cant. Dict. Hare, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. He has swallowed a hare, he is drunk, more probably a hair which requires washing down.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
To hold with the hare and hunt with the hounds, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To play a double game; to keep on good terms with two conflicting parties.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
To kiss the hare’s foot, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be late; to be a day after the fair; to kiss the post. [[273]]
Hare-brained (or Hair-brained), adj. (old colloquial: now recognised).—Reckless; flighty; impudent; skittish. Also, substantively, hare-brain = a hare-brained person.
1534. N. Udal, Roister Doister, I., iv., p. 27 (Arber). Ah foolish hare-braine, This is not she.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in Wks., ii., 53. A harebraind little Dwarfe it is.
1621. Burton, Anat. of Mel., I., III., I., ii., 259 (1836). Yet again, many of them, desperate hare-brains.