hard up
Preserved but no longer current.
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.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “hard up” mean?
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.
Is “hard up” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.