hard
Crack cocaine.
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hard
Stale beer, nearly sour, is said to be hard. Hard also means severe: as, hard fate, a hard master.
hard and fast
Strictly adhered to, without flexibility
hard as iron
very hard
hard as nails
Stern, hard-hearted, unsympa- thetic; able to stand hard blows like nails. The phrase is used with both a physical and a figurative sense; a man in perfect training is "as hard as nails," and bigotry, straitlacedness, rigid puritanical phansaism, make people "hard as nails.
hard at work
Busy and actively engaged in a task
hard by
Near. Hard here means close, pressed close together; hence firm or solid, in close proximity to.
hard cases make bad law
Unusual situations can lead to poor legal precedents
hard cash
Money; especially actual money — as opposed to cheques or promises — "down on the nail"; formerly coin as distinguished from bank-notes.
hard cheese
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
hard done by
Unfairly treated or disadvantaged
hard feelings
Resentment or anger towards someone
hard hit
Seriously damaged by monetary losses; as "He was hard hit in the slump after the war"; also, badly smitten with love.
hard labour
Enforced labour added to the punishment of criminals receiving a sentence of six months or over. It used to consist largely of working the treadmill, stone-breaking, oakum picking, etc.
hard lines
Hard terms; "rather rough treatment"; exacting. Lines here means "one's lot in life," as, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage" (Ps. xvi, 6), i.e. my lot is excellent.
hard mouthed un
Any one difficult to deal with, a sharp bargainer, an obstinate person. Derivation obvious.
hard nut to crack
A difficult problem or person to deal with
hard of hearing
having difficulty hearing
hard on the eyes
Unpleasant or difficult to look at
hard pass
a strong refusal or rejection
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
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