hard pass
a strong refusal or rejection
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hard stop
Deadline.
hard tack
Ship biscuits. This is a term used by sailors to distinguish their ordinary sea-bread from that obtained on shore, which is called soft TACK, or soft tommy. HARD TACK is also a phrase used by the London lower classes to signify coarse or insufficient food.
hard telling, not knowing
Unable to predict or know something
hard to swallow
Difficult to accept or believe
hard up
Lacking money; impecunious; in financial difficulties.
hard up
Short of money. Originally a nautical phrase; when a vessel was hard put to it by stress of weather the order Hard up the helm I was given, and the tiller was put up as far as possible to windward so as to turn the ship's head away from the wind. So, when a man is "hard up" he has to weather the storm as best he may.
hard white
Cocaine
Hard words break no bones. (Strauss, 1998 p. 17)
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
hard work
Effort and persistence in doing something
hard work never did anyone any harm
Traditional English proverbial phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
Hard-shell Baptists
Baptists in Georgia (U.S.A.) who stuck to their principles and were impervious to any mellowing influence.
hard-up
A cigar-end finder, who collects the refuse pieces of smoked cigars from the gutter, and having dried them, smokes them, or sells them as tobacco to the very poor. See TOPPER.
harden someone's heart
to make someone less sympathetic or compassionate
hardtail
A mule.
hardy perennial
A person or issue that persists or recurs over a long period
hare
He has swallowed a hare; he is drunk; more probably a HAIR, which requires washing down,
harebrained
Reckless, unthinking.
hark-ye-ing
Whispering on one side to borrow money.
harlequin
Jack Shepherd, with a Night Scene in Grotesque Characters, 8vo. (About 1736.)
harman’s
(Thomas, Esq.) Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors, vulgarly called vagabones, set forth for the utilitie and profit of his naturall countrey, augmented and inlarged by the first author thereof; whereunto is added the tale of the second taking of the counterfeit crank, with the true report of his behaviour and also his punishment for his so dissembling, most marvellous to the hearer or reader thereof, newly imprinted, 4to. Imprinted at London, by H. Middleton, 1573.
harness cask
A large cask or tub with a rim cover, containing a supply of salt meat for immediate use. A nautical term.
Harness Prize
A prize founded at Cambridge in memory- of William Harness (1790-1869), editor of a Life of Shakespeare, of the Plays of Massinger and Ford, etc., for the best essay connected with Shakespearean literature. Awarded every third year.
Harold Holt
A sudden departure.
Haroun al-Raschid
Next morning he was treated as the caliph, and every effort was made to make him forget his identity (The Sleeper Awakened).
harp
To harp upon; to dwell upon a subject. Have among you, my blind harpers; an expression used in throwing or shooting at random among the crowd. Harp is also the Irish expression for woman, or tail, used in tossing up in Ireland: from Hibernia, being represented with a harp on the reverse of the copper coins of that country; for which it is, in hoisting the copper, i.e. tossing up, sometimes likewise called music.
harp on one string
To repeat or emphasize one idea or topic excessively
harp on the same string
To repeat or emphasize something excessively
harridan
A hagged old woman; a miserable, scraggy, worn-out harlot, fit to take her bawd's degree: derived from the French word HARIDELLE, a worn-out jade of a horse or mare.
harrison’s
(William) Description of the Island of Britain (prefixed to Holinshed’s Chronicle), 2 vols. folio. 1577.
harry
A country fellow. CANT.--Old Harry; the Devil.
harry
Or OLD HARRY, (i.e., Old Hairy?) the Devil; "to play OLD HARRY with one," i.e., ruin or annoy him.
harry-soph
(ἐρίσοφος, very wise indeed), a student of law or physic at Cambridge who, being of the same standing as the students in arts in his year, is allowed to wear a full-sleeved gown when they assume their B.A. gowns, though he does not obtain his actual degree so soon. An undergraduate in his last year is a Senior Soph, in his last term a Questionist.
hart of grease
A hunter's phrase for a fat venison; a stag full of the pasture, called by Jaques "a fat and greasy citizen** (As You Like It, ii, 1).
harum scarum
He was running harum scarum; said of any one running or walking hastily, and in a hurry, after they know not what.
harum-scarum
Wild, dissipated, reckless; four horses driven in a line. This is also called SUICIDE. See TANDEM, RANDEM, UNICORN, &c.
Harvest Moon
The full moon nearest the autumnal equinox, which rises for several days nearly at sunset, and at about the same time.
has left the building
someone or something is no longer present
hash
To flash the hash; to vomit. CANT.
hash
A mess, confusion; "a pretty HASH he made of it;" to HASH UP, to jumble together without order or regularity. The term also occurs in the phrase "to settle his HASH," which is equivalent to "give him his gruel," or "cook his goose," i.e., to kill him.
hash out
to discuss and work out details
hash slinger
a cook or food server, especially in a cheap restaurant
hash-trap
The mouth.
haste makes waste
Rushing leads to mistakes and loss
hasty
Precipitate, passionate. He is none of the Hastings sort; a saying of a slow, loitering fellow: an allusion to the Hastings pea, which is the first in season.
Hasty judgment leads to repentance. (Strauss, 1994 p. 196)
Making quick decisions often results in regret
hasty pudding
Oatmeal and milk boiled to a moderate thickness, and eaten with sugar and butter. Figuratively, a wet, muddy road: as, The way through Wandsworth is quite a hasty pudding. To eat hot hasty pudding for a laced hat, or some other prize, is a common feat at wakes and fairs.
hat
Old hat; a woman's privities: because frequently felt.
hat hair
hair that is flattened or messy from wearing a hat
hat in hand
showing respect or humility, often in a submissive manner
hatches
Under the hatches; in trouble, distress, or debt.
hatchet
"to throw the HATCHET," to tell lies. Same as "to draw the long bow."
hatchet man
A person hired to carry out unpleasant tasks
hatchet wound
Vulva.
hate is a strong word
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
hate someone's guts
To intensely dislike someone
Hats and Caps
Two political factions of Sweden in the 18th century, the former favourable to France, and the latter to Russia. Carlyle says the latter were called Caps, meaning night-caps, because they were averse to action and war; but the fact is that the French partisans wore a French chapeau as their badge, and the Russian partisans wore a Russian cap.
haughty and high minded
Having or showing a superior attitude
haul ass
to leave quickly or hurry away
haul off
To alter course so as to get farther away from an object.
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