to go hard with one
Preserved but no longer current.
To prove a troublesome matter. "It will go hard with me before I give up the attempt," i.e. I won't give it up until I have tried every means to success, no matter how difficult, dangerous, or painful it may be.
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 “to go hard with one” mean?
To prove a troublesome matter. "It will go hard with me before I give up the attempt," i.e. I won't give it up until I have tried every means to success, no matter how difficult, dangerous, or painful it may be.
Is “to go hard with one” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.