Emily Dickinson Lexicon — HARD

Dictionary: HARD – HARD-HEART'ED

a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116

Previous Page Next Page

HARD, a. [Sax. heard; Goth. hardu; D. hard; G. hart; Dan. haard; Sw. hård. The primary sense is, pressed.]

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.
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.
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.
Full of difficulties or obstacles; not easy to be traveled; as, a hard way. Milton.
Painful; difficult; distressing. Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. Gen. xxxv.
Laborious; fatiguing; attended with difficulty or pain, or both; as, hard work or labor; hard duty; hard service.
Oppressive; rigorous; severe; cruel; as, hard bondage; a hard master. Ex. i. Is. xiv.
Unfeeling; insensible; not easily moved by pity; not susceptible of kindness, mercy or other tender affections; as, a hard heart.
Severe; harsh; rough; abusive. Have you given him any hard words of late? Shak.
Unfavorable; unkind; implying blame of another; as, hard thoughts.
Severe; rigorous; oppressive. The enemy was compelled to submit to hard terms. So we say, a hard bargain; hard conditions.
Unreasonable; unjust. It is hard to punish a man for speculative opinions. It is a hard case.
Severe; pinching with cold; rigorous; tempestuous; as, a hard winter; hard weather.
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.
Austere; rough; acid; sour; as liquors. The cider is hard.
Harsh; stiff; forced; constrained; unnatural. Others – make the figures harder than the marble itself. Dryden. His diction is hard, his figures too bold. Dryden.
Not plentiful; not prosperous; pressing; distressing; as, hard times, when markets are bad, and money of course scarce.
Avaricious; difficult in making bargains; close. Matth. xxv.
Rough; of coarse features; as, a hard face or countenance.
Austere; severe; rigorous.
Rude; unpolished or unintelligible. A people of hard language. Ezek. iii.
Coarse; unpalatable or scanty; as, hard fare.

HARD, adv.

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.
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.
With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.
Uneasily; vexatiously. Shak.
Closely; so as to raise difficulties. The question is hard set. Brown.
Fast; nimbly; rapidly; vehemently; as, to run hard, that is, with pressure or urgency.
Violently; with great force; tempestuously; as, the wind blows hard, or it blows hard.
With violence; with a copious descent of water; as, it rains hard.
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.

HARD-BE-SET'TING, a.

Closely besetting or besieging. Milton.

HARD'BOUND, a.

Costive; fast or tight; as, hardbound brains. Pope.

HARD-DRINK'ER, n.

One who drinks to excess.

HARD-DRINK'ING, n.

Drinking to excess.

HARD'EARN-ED, a.

Earned with toil and difficulty. Burke.

HARD'EN, v.i. [hàrdn.]

To become hard or more hard; to acquire solidity or more compactness. Mortar hardens by drying.
To become unfeeling.
To become inured.
To indurate, as flesh.

HARD'EN, v.t. [hàrdn.]

To make hard or more hard; to make firm or compact; to indurate; as, to harden iron or steel; to harden clay.
To confirm in effrontery; to make impudent; as, to harden the face.
To make obstinate, unyielding or refractory; as, to harden the neck. Jer. xix.
To confirm in wickedness, opposition or enmity; to make obdurate. Why then do ye harden your hearts, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened their hearts? 1 Sam. vi. So God is said to harden the heart, when he withdraws the influences of his Spirit from men, and leaves them to pursue their own corrupt inclinations.
To make insensible or unfeeling; as, to harden one against impressions of pity or tenderness.
To make firm; to endure with constancy. I would harden myself in sorrow. John vi.
To inure; to render firm or less liable to injury, by exposure or use; as, to harden to a climate or to labor.

HARD'EN-ED, pp.

Made hard, or more hard or compact; made unfeeling; made obstinate; confirmed in error or vice.

HARD'EN-ER, n.

He or that which makes hard, or more firm and compact.

HARD'EN-ING, n.

The giving a greater degree of hardness to bodies than they had before. Encyc.

HARD'EN-ING, ppr.

Making hard or more compact; making obdurate or unfeeling; confirming; becoming more hard.

HARD'ER, a.

More hard.

HARD'EST, a.

Most hard.