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Difference between Be headstrong and Have a strong head

be headstrongbe self-willed and obstinate:

  • George Eliot’s young country hero is headstrong and arrogant, and sees the world in black and white.

have a strong head —(coll.) be not easily intoxicated by liquor:

  • I could drink as much as the best of them and I had, for such a youngster, a tolerable strong head.

Note:

a) Neither expression correlates in meaning with the phrase be strong-minded—be resolute and determined:

  • Everyone describes him in a similar way—to say that Clarence was strong minded, had a strong personality, was strong willed.

b) Neither expression is antonymous in meaning to the phrase

be weak in the head—(coll.) be mentally retarded (also: be soft in the head):

  • When he stopped speaking his mouth hung open … I realized that he was weak in the head.