Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HAR'ASS, n.

Waste; disturbance; devastation. [Little used.] Milton.

HAR'ASS, v.t. [Fr. harasser. Qu. Ir. creasam.]

1. To weary; to fatigue to excess; to tire with bodily labor; as, to harass an army by a long march. Bacon.
2. To weary with importunity, care, or perplexity; to tease; to perplex. Nature oppress'd and harass'd out with care. Addison.
3. To waste or desolate. [Obs.] Hammond.

HAR'ASS-ED, pp.

Wearied; tired; teased.

HAR'ASS-ER, n.

One who harasses or teases; a spoiler.

HAR'ASS-ING, ppr.

Tiring; fatiguing; teasing.

HAR'BIN-GER, n. [See Harbor. Harbinger is properly a person who goes to provide harbor or lodgings for those that follow.]

1. In England, an officer of the king's household who rides a day's journey before the court when traveling, to provide lodgings and other accommodations. Encyc.
2. A forerunner; a precursor; that which precedes and gives notice of the expected arrival of something else.

HAR'BIN-GER-ED, a.

Preceded by a harbinger.

HAR'BOR, n. [Sax. here-berga, the station of an army; D. herberg, an inn; Dan. Sw. and G. herberge; Fr. auberge; Sp. and Port. albergue; It. albergo. The rust syllable, in the Teutonic dialects, signifies an army, or a troop, a crowd; the last syllable is berg, burg, a town, or castle, or from bergen, to save. But in the Celtic dialects, the first syllable, al, is probably different from that of the other dialects.]

1. A lodging; a place of entertainment and rest. For harbor at a thousand doors they knocked. Dryden.
2. A port or haven for ships; a bay or inlet of the sea, in which ships can moor, and be sheltered from the fury of winds and a heavy sea; any navigable water where ships can ride in safety.
3. An asylum; a shelter; a place of safety from storms or danger.

HAR'BOR, v.i.

1. To lodge or abide for a time; to receive entertainment. This night let's harbor here in York. Shak.
2. To take shelter.

HAR'BOR, v.t.

1. To shelter; to secure; to secrete; as, to harbor a thief.
2. To entertain; to permit to lodge, rest or reside; as, to harbor malice or revenge. Harbor not a thought of revenge.

HAR'BOR-AGE, n.

Shelter; entertainment. [Not used.] Shak.

HAR'BOR-ED, pp.

Entertained; sheltered.

HAR'BOR-ER, n.

One who entertains or shelters another.

HAR'BOR-ING, ppr.

Entertaining; sheltering.

HAR'BOR-LESS, a.

Without a harbor; destitute of shelter or a lodging.

HAR'BOR-MAS'TER, n.

An officer who has charge of the mooring of ships, and executes the regulations respecting harbors. New York.

HAR'BOR-OUGH, n.

A harbor or lodging. [Not in use.]

HAR'BOR-OUS, a.

Hospitable. [Not in use.]

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

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.

HARD, adv.

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.

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.