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Webster 1913 Edition

(hâr′ŭm-skâr′ŭm)

Adj.

[Cf.

hare

Verb.

, and

scare

Verb.

]

Wild; giddy; flighty; rash; thoughtless.

[Colloq.]

They had a quarrel with Sir Thomas Newcome’s own son, a

harum-scarum

lad.

Thackeray.

harum-scarum ‎(not comparable)

wild, careless, irresponsible
- 1832, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Eugene Aram
  Lester's good heart will be to hear that little Peter is so improved;--no longer a dissolute, harum-scarum fellow, throwing away his money, and always in debt.

harum-scarum ‎(not comparable)

wildly, carelessly, irresponsibly
- 1800, Maria Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent
  ... for he never looked after anything at all, but harum-scarum called for everything as if we were conjurors, or he in a public-house.