hard up
adjective
1.
not soft; solid and firm to the touch; unyielding to pressure and impenetrable or almost impenetrable.
2.
firmly formed; tight: a hard knot.
3.
difficult to do or accomplish; fatiguing; troublesome: a hard task.
4.
difficult or troublesome with respect to an action, situation, person, etc.: hard to please; a hard time.
5.
difficult to deal with, manage, control, overcome, or understand: a hard problem.
6.
involving a great deal of effort, energy, or persistence: hard labor; hard study.
7.
performing or carrying on work with great effort, energy, or persistence: a hard worker.
8.
vigorous or violent in force; severe: a hard rain; a hard fall.
9.
bad; unendurable; unbearable: hard luck.
10.
oppressive; harsh; rough: hard treatment.
11.
austere; severe: a hard winter; the hard times of the Great Depression.
12.
harsh or severe in dealing with others: a hard master.
13.
difficult to explain away; undeniable: hard facts.
14.
that can be verified; factual, as distinguished from speculation or hearsay: hard information.
15.
harsh or unfriendly; resentful; severe; bitter: hard feelings; hard words.
16.
of stern judgment or close examination; searching: a hard look.
17.
lacking delicacy or softness; not blurred or diffused; clear and distinct; sharp; harsh: a hard line; a hard, bright light; hard features; a hard face.
18.
(of a photograph) contrasty.
19.
severe or rigorous in terms: a hard bargain.
20.
sternly realistic; dispassionate; unsentimental: a hard, practical man; a hard view of life.
21.
incorrigible; disreputable; tough: a hard character.
22.
Scot. and North England. niggardly; stingy.
23.
in coins or paper money as distinguished from checks, securities, promissory notes, or other negotiable instruments).
24.
(of paper money or a monetary system) supported by sufficient gold reserves and easily convertible into the currency of a foreign nation.
25.
(of money) scarce or available at high interest rates: a hard loan.
26.
denoting assets with intrinsic value, as gold, silver, or diamonds.
27.
a.
containing more than 22.5 percent alcohol by volume, as whiskey and brandy as opposed to beer and wine.
b.
strong because of fermentation; intoxicating: hard cider.
28.
(of wine) tasting excessively of tannin.
29.
(of an illicit narcotic or drug) known to be physically addictive, as opium, morphine, or cocaine.
30.
(of water) containing mineral salts that interfere with the action of soap.
31.
a.
having a firm, crisp crust or texture: hard rolls.
b.
stale or tough.
32.
(of a fabric) having relatively little nap; smooth: Silk is a harder fabric than wool or cotton.
33.
(of the landing of a rocket or space vehicle) executed without decelerating: a hard landing on the moon. Compare soft ( def 28 ).
34.
(of a missile base) equipped to launch missiles from underground silos.
35.
(of a missile) capable of being launched from an underground silo.
36.
Military. being underground and strongly protected from nuclear bombardment.
37.
Agriculture. noting wheats with high gluten content, milled for a bread flour as contrasted with pastry flour.
38.
39.
(in the making of rope) noting a lay having a considerable angle to the axis of the rope; short.
40.
Physics. (of a beam of particles or photons) having relatively high energy: hard x-rays. Compare soft ( def 29 ).
41.
(of the penis) erect.
adverb
42.
with great exertion; with vigor or violence; strenuously: to work hard; to try hard.
43.
earnestly, intently, or critically: to look hard at a thing.
44.
harshly or severely.
45.
so as to be solid, tight, or firm: frozen hard.
46.
with strong force or impact: She tripped and came down hard on her back.
47.
in a deeply affected manner; with genuine sorrow or remorse: She took it very hard when they told her of his death.
48.
closely; immediately: Failure and defeat seemed hard at hand. The decision to ban students from the concerts followed hard on the heels of the riot.
49.
to an unreasonable or extreme degree; excessively; immoderately: He's hitting the bottle pretty hard.
50.
Nautical. closely, fully, or to the extreme limit: hard aport; hard alee.
00:10
Hard up
is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
noun
Idioms 51.
Nautical. a firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.
52.
British.
a.
a firm or solid beach or foreshore.
b.
a firm landing, jetty, or road across or adjoining the foreshore.
53.
British Slang. hard labor.
54.
be hard on, to deal harshly with; be stern: You are being too hard on him.
55.
hard by, in close proximity to; near: The house is hard by the river.
56.
hard of hearing. hearing-impaired.
57.
hard put, in great perplexity or difficulty; at a loss: We were hard put to finish the examination in one hour.
58.
hard up, Informal.
a.
urgently in need of money.
b.
feeling a lack or need: The country is hard up for technicians and doctors.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English heard; cognate with Dutch hard, German hart, Old Norse harthr, Gothic hardus; akin to Greek kratýs strong, Ionic dial. kártos strength (cf. -cracy)
before 900; Middle English; Old English heard; cognate with Dutch hard, German hart, Old Norse harthr, Gothic hardus; akin to Greek kratýs strong, Ionic dial. kártos strength (cf. -cracy)
Related forms
half-hard, adjective
o·ver·hard, adjective
o·ver·hard·ness, noun
sem·i·hard, adjective
sem·i·hard·ness, noun
Synonyms
1. inflexible, rigid, compressed, compact, dense, resisting, adamantine, flinty. See firm1. 3. toilsome, burdensome, wearisome, exhausting. Hard, difficult both describe something resistant to one's efforts or one's endurance. Hard is the general word: hard times; It was hard to endure the severe weather. Difficult means not easy, and particularly denotes that which requires special effort or skill: a difficult task. 5. complex, complicated, perplexing, puzzling, intricate, knotty, tough. 6. arduous, onerous, laborious. 8. stormy, tempestuous. 10. severe, rigorous, grinding, cruel, merciless, unsparing. 12. stern, austere, strict, exacting, relentless, obdurate, adamant; unyielding, unpitying. Hard, callous, unfeeling, unsympathetic imply a lack of interest in, feeling for, or sympathy with others. Hard implies insensibility, either natural or acquired, so that the plight of others makes no impression on one: a hard taskmaster. Callous may mean the same or that one is himself or herself insensitive to hurt as the result of continued repression and indifference: a callous answer; callous to criticism. Unfeeling implies natural inability to feel with and for others: an unfeeling and thoughtless remark. Unsympathetic implies an indifference that precludes pity, compassion, or the like: unsympathetic toward distress. 13. incontrovertible.
1. inflexible, rigid, compressed, compact, dense, resisting, adamantine, flinty. See firm1. 3. toilsome, burdensome, wearisome, exhausting. Hard, difficult both describe something resistant to one's efforts or one's endurance. Hard is the general word: hard times; It was hard to endure the severe weather. Difficult means not easy, and particularly denotes that which requires special effort or skill: a difficult task. 5. complex, complicated, perplexing, puzzling, intricate, knotty, tough. 6. arduous, onerous, laborious. 8. stormy, tempestuous. 10. severe, rigorous, grinding, cruel, merciless, unsparing. 12. stern, austere, strict, exacting, relentless, obdurate, adamant; unyielding, unpitying. Hard, callous, unfeeling, unsympathetic imply a lack of interest in, feeling for, or sympathy with others. Hard implies insensibility, either natural or acquired, so that the plight of others makes no impression on one: a hard taskmaster. Callous may mean the same or that one is himself or herself insensitive to hurt as the result of continued repression and indifference: a callous answer; callous to criticism. Unfeeling implies natural inability to feel with and for others: an unfeeling and thoughtless remark. Unsympathetic implies an indifference that precludes pity, compassion, or the like: unsympathetic toward distress. 13. incontrovertible.
Antonyms
1. soft. 3–6. easy.
1. soft. 3–6. easy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To hard up
Collins
World English Dictionary
hard (hɑːd) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | firm or rigid; not easily dented, crushed, or pierced |
| 2. | toughened by or as if by physical labour; not soft or smooth: hard hands |
| 3. | difficult to do or accomplish; arduous: a hard task |
| 4. | difficult to understand or perceive: a hard question |
| 5. | showing or requiring considerable physical or mental energy, effort, or application: hard work; a hard drinker |
| 6. | stern, cold, or intractable: a hard judge |
| 7. | exacting; demanding: a hard master |
| 8. | harsh; cruel: a hard fate |
| 9. | inflicting pain, sorrow, distress, or hardship: hard times |
| 10. | tough or adamant: a hard man |
| 11. | forceful or violent: a hard knock |
| 12. | cool or uncompromising: we took a long hard look at our profit factor |
| 13. | indisputable; real: hard facts |
| 14. | chem See hardness (of water) impairing the formation of a lather by soap |
| 15. | practical, shrewd, or calculating: he is a hard man in business |
| 16. | too harsh to be pleasant: hard light |
| 17. | a. (of cash, money, etc) in coin and paper rather than cheques |
| b. (of currency) in strong demand, esp as a result of a good balance of payments situation | |
| c. (of credit) difficult to obtain; tight | |
| 18. | (of alcoholic drink) being a spirit rather than a wine, beer, etc: the hard stuff |
| 19. | Compare soft (of a drug such as heroin, morphine, or cocaine) highly addictive |
| 20. | physics (of radiation, such as gamma rays and X-rays) having high energy and the ability to penetrate solids |
| 21. | physics (of a vacuum) almost complete |
| 22. | chiefly (US) (of goods) durable |
| 23. | hard core See hard core short for hard-core |
| 24. | (of news coverage) concentrating on serious stories |
| 25. | phonetics |
| a. an older word for fortis | |
| b. (not in modern technical usage) denoting the consonants c and g in English when they are pronounced as velar stops (k, g) | |
| c. (of consonants in the Slavonic languages) not palatalized | |
| 26. | a. being heavily fortified and protected |
| b. (of nuclear missiles) located underground in massively reinforced silos | |
| 27. | politically extreme: the hard left |
| 28. | informal (Brit), (NZ) incorrigible or disreputable (esp in the phrase a hard case) |
| 29. | (of bread, etc) stale and old |
| 30. | a hard nut to crack |
| a. a person not easily persuaded or won over | |
| b. a thing not easily understood | |
| 31. | hard by near; close by |
| 32. | (NZ) hard doer a tough worker at anything |
| 33. | hard done by unfairly or badly treated |
| 34. | informal hard up |
| a. in need of money; poor | |
| b. ( | |
| 35. | informal (Austral), (NZ) put the hard word on to ask or demand something from |
| —adv (foll by on, upon, by, | |
| 36. | with great energy, force, or vigour: the team always played hard |
| 37. | as far as possible; all the way: hard left |
| 38. | with application; earnestly or intently: she thought hard about the formula |
| 39. | with great intensity, force, or violence: his son's death hit him hard |
| 40. | close; near: hard on his heels |
| 41. | ( |
| 42. | a. with effort or difficulty: their victory was hard won |
| b. (in combination): hard-earned | |
| 43. | slowly and reluctantly: prejudice dies hard |
| 44. | go hard with to cause pain or difficulty to (someone): it will go hard with you if you don't tell the truth |
| 45. | hard at it working hard |
| 46. | hard put, hard put to it scarcely having the capacity (to do something): he's hard put to get to work by 9:30 |
| —n | |
| 47. | any colorant that produces a harsh coarse appearance |
| 48. | (Brit) a roadway across a foreshore |
| 49. | slang hard labour |
| 50. | slang an erection of the penis (esp in the phrase get or have a hard on) |
| [Old English heard; related to Old Norse harthr, Old Frisian herd, Old High German herti, Gothic hardus hard, Greek kratus strong] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
hard
O.E. heard "solid, firm, not soft," also "severe, rigorous, cruel," from P.Gmc. *kharthus (cf. Du. hard, O.N. harðr "hard," O.H.G. harto "extremely, very," Goth. hardus "hard"), from PIE *kratus "power, strength" (cf. Gk. kratos "strength," kratys "strong"). The adv. sense was also present in O.E.
Hard of hearing preserves obsolete M.E. sense of "having difficulty in doing something." Hard liquor is 1879, Amer.Eng. (hard cider is from 1789), and this probably led to hard drugs (1955). Hard facts is from 1887; hard news is from 1938. Hard-headed is first attested 1519; hard-hearted is c.1200. Hard-boiled "severe, tough" is from 1886; hard-core "tough" is 1951, extension to pornography is from 1970s. Hard up (1610s) is originally nautical, of steering (slang sense of "short of money" is from 1821), as is hard and fast (1867), of a ship on shore. Hardball in the figurative sense of "tough, uncompromising" is from 1973; hard-on "penile erection" first recorded 1893; hard times "period of poverty" is from 1705. Hard hat was originally (1935) "derby;" meaning "safety helmet" is from 1953; used figuratively for "construction worker" from 1970. Hard-wired is 1969, from computing. Hardscrabble "barren place" is first recorded 1804, in journals of Lewis and Clark.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
hard definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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hard up definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
hard up
In need, poor, as in Unemployment is rising and many families are hard up, or With widespread emigration, Russia is finding itself hard up for scientists and other professional people. [Colloquial; early 1800s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Nearby Words
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