H`ARD, a.

1. Firm; solid; compact; not easily penetrated, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.
2. Difficult; not easy to the intellect. In which are some things hard to be understood. 2 Pet. iii. The hard causes they brought to Moses. Ex. xviii.
3. Difficult of accomplishment; not easy to be done or executed. A hard task; a disease hard to cure. Is any thing too hard for the Lord? Gen. xviii.
4. Full of difficulties or obstacles; not easy to be traveled; as, a hard way. Milton.
5. Painful; difficult; distressing. Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. Gen. xxxv.
6. Laborious; fatiguing; attended with difficulty or pain, or both; as, hard work or labor; hard duty; hard service.
7. Oppressive; rigorous; severe; cruel; as, hard bondage; a hard master. Ex. i. Is. xiv.
8. Unfeeling; insensible; not easily moved by pity; not susceptible of kindness, mercy or other tender affections; as, a hard heart.
9. Severe; harsh; rough; abusive. Have you given him any hard words of late? Shak.
10. Unfavorable; unkind; implying blame of another; as, hard thoughts.
11. Severe; rigorous; oppressive. The enemy was compelled to submit to hard terms. So we say, a hard bargain; hard conditions.
12. Unreasonable; unjust. It is hard to punish a man for speculative opinions. It is a hard case.
13. Severe; pinching with cold; rigorous; tempestuous; as, a hard winter; hard weather.
14. Powerful; forcible; urging; pressing close on. The stag was too hard for the horse. L'Estrange. The disputant was too hard for his antagonist. Anon.
15. Austere; rough; acid; sour; as liquors. The cider is hard.
16. Harsh; stiff; forced; constrained; unnatural. Others – make the figures harder than the marble itself. Dryden. His diction is hard, his figures too bold. Dryden.
17. Not plentiful; not prosperous; pressing; distressing; as, hard times, when markets are bad, and money of course scarce.
18. Avaricious; difficult in making bargains; close. Matth. xxv.
19. Rough; of coarse features; as, a hard face or countenance.
20. Austere; severe; rigorous.
21. Rude; unpolished or unintelligible. A people of hard language. Ezek. iii.
22. Coarse; unpalatable or scanty; as, hard fare.

1. Close; near; as in the phrase, hard by. In this phrase, the word retains its original sense of pressed, or pressing. So in It. presso, Fr. près, from L. pressus.
2. With pressure; with urgency; hence, diligently; laboriously; earnestly; vehemently; importunately; as, to work hard for a living. And pray'd so hard for mercy from the prince. Dryden.
3. With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.
4. Uneasily; vexatiously. Shak.
5. Closely; so as to raise difficulties. The question is hard set. Brown.
6. Fast; nimbly; rapidly; vehemently; as, to run hard, that is, with pressure or urgency.
7. Violently; with great force; tempestuously; as, the wind blows hard, or it blows hard.
8. With violence; with a copious descent of water; as, it rains hard.
9. With force; as, to press hard. Hard-a-lee, in seamen's language, an order to put the helm close to the lee side of the ship, to tack or keep her head to the wind; also, that situation of the helm. Mar. Dict. Hard-a-weather, an order to put the helm close to the weather or windward side of the ship; also, that position of the helm. Hard-a-port, an order to put the helm close to the larboard side of a ship. Hard-a-starboard, an order to put the helm close to the starboard side of a ship. Mar. Dict.

1. Not easily penetrated, cut, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; -- applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.
2. With pressure; with urgency; hence, diligently; earnestly.
   
   

   And prayed so hard for mercy from the prince. Dryden.

   My father
   Is hard at study; pray now, rest yourself. Shak.

3. To harden; to make hard.
   
   
   [Obs.] Chaucer.
4. A ford or passage across a river or swamp.
5. Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem.
   
   

   The hard causes they brought unto Moses. Ex. xviii. 26.

   In which are some things hard to be understood. 2 Peter iii. 16.

6. With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.
7. Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.
8. Uneasily; vexatiously; slowly.
   
   
   Shak.
9. Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
   
   

   The stag was too hard for the horse. L'Estrange.

   A power which will be always too hard for them. Addison.

10. So as to raise difficulties.
    
    
    "The question is hard set." Sir T. Browne.
11. Difficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms.
    
    

    I never could drive a hard bargain. Burke.

12. With tension or strain of the powers; violently; with force; tempestuously; vehemently; vigorously; energetically; as, to press, to blow, to rain hard; hence, rapidly; nimbly; as, to run hard.
13. Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.
14. Close or near.
    
    

    Whose house joined hard to the synagogue. Acts xviii. 7.

    Hard by, near by; close at hand; not far off. "Hard by a cottage chimney smokes." Milton. -- Hard pushed, Hard run, greatly pressed; as, he was hard pushed or hard run for time, money, etc. [Colloq.] -- Hard up, closely pressed by want or necessity; without money or resources; as, hard up for amusements. [Slang]

    * Hard in nautical language is often joined to words of command to the helmsman, denoting that the order should be carried out with the utmost energy, or that the helm should be put, in the direction indicated, to the extreme limit, as, Hard aport! Hard astarboard! Hard alee! Hard aweather! Hard up!
    Hard is also often used in composition with a participle; as, hard-baked; hard-earned; hard-featured; hard-working; hard-won.

15. Not easy or agreeable to the taste; harsh; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style.
    
    

    Figures harder than even the marble itself. Dryden.

16. Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.
17. Abrupt or explosive in utterance; not aspirated, sibilated, or pronounced with a gradual change of the organs from one position to another; -- said of certain consonants, as c in came, and g in go, as distinguished from the same letters in center, general, etc.
18. Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.
19. Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.
    
    
    (b)