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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hard \Hard\ (h[aum]rd), adjective [Compar. {Harder} (-[~e]r); superl. {Hardest}.] [OE. hard, heard, AS. heard; akin to OS. & D. hard, G. hart, OHG. herti, harti, Icel. har[eth]r, Dan. haard, Sw. h[*a]rd, Goth. hardus, Gr. kraty's strong, ka'rtos, kra'tos, strength, and also to E. -ard, as in coward, drunkard, -crat, -cracy in autocrat, democracy; cf. Skr. kratu strength, k[.r] to do, make. Cf. {Hardy}.]
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. 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.
3. Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.
7. Not easy or agreeable to the taste; harsh; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style.
Figures harder than even the marble itself. --Dryden.
8. Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.
9. (Pron.) 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.
10. Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.
11. (Painting) (a) Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition. (b) Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in the coloring or light and shade.
{Hard cancer}, {Hard case}, etc. See under {Cancer}, {Case}, etc.
{Hard clam}, or {Hard-shelled clam} (Zo["o]l.), the quahog.
{Hard coal}, anthracite, as distinguished from {bituminous coal} ({soft coal}).
{Hard and fast}. (Naut.) See under {Fast}.
{Hard finish} (Arch.), a smooth finishing coat of hard fine plaster applied to the surface of rough plastering.
{Hard lines}, hardship; difficult conditions.
{Hard money}, coin or specie, as distinguished from paper money.
{Hard oyster} (Zo["o]l.), the northern native oyster. [Local, U. S.]
{Hard pan}, the hard stratum of earth lying beneath the soil; hence, figuratively, the firm, substantial, fundamental part or quality of anything; as, the hard pan of character, of a matter in dispute, etc. See {Pan}.
{Hard rubber}. See under {Rubber}.
{Hard solder}. See under {Solder}.
{Hard water}, water, which contains lime or some mineral substance rendering it unfit for washing. See {Hardness}, 3.
{Hard wood}, wood of a solid or hard texture; as walnut, oak, ash, box, and the like, in distinction from pine, poplar, hemlock, etc.
{In hard condition}, in excellent condition for racing; having firm muscles; -- said of race horses.
Syn: Solid; arduous; powerful; trying; unyielding; stubborn; stern; flinty; unfeeling; harsh; difficult; severe; obdurate; rigid. See {Solid}, and {Arduous}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hard \Hard\, adverb [OE. harde, AS. hearde.]
1. 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.
2. With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.
3. Uneasily; vexatiously; slowly. --Shak.
4. So as to raise difficulties. ''The question is hard set.'' --Sir T. Browne.
5. 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.
6. 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]
Note: 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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hard \Hard\ (h[aum]rd), verb (used with an object) To harden; to make hard. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hard \Hard\, noun A ford or passage across a river or swamp.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
hard
adjective
1: not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "a difficult child"; "found himself in a difficult situation"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?" [syn: {difficult}] [ant: {easy}]
2: metaphorically hard; "a hard fate"; "took a hard look"; "a hard bargainer"; "a hard climb" [ant: {soft}]
3: not yielding to pressure or easily penetrated; "hard as rock" [ant: {soft}]
4: very strong or vigorous; "strong winds"; "a hard left to the chin"; "a knockout punch"; "a severe blow" [syn: {knockout}, {severe}]
5: characterized by toilsome effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort; "worked their arduous way up the mining valley"; "a grueling campaign"; "hard labor"; "heavy work"; "heavy going"; "spent many laborious hours on the project"; "set a punishing pace" [syn: {arduous}, {backbreaking}, {grueling}, {gruelling}, {heavy}, {laborious}, {punishing}, {toilsome}]
6: of speech sounds [ant: {soft}]
7: of a drinker or drinking; indulging intemperately; "does a lot of hard drinking"; "a heavy drinker" [syn: {hard(a)}, {heavy}]
8: having undergone fermentation; "hard cider" [syn: {fermented}]
9: having a high alcoholic content; "hard liquor" [syn: {strong}]
10: unfortunate or hard to bear; "had hard luck"; "a tough break" [syn: {tough}]
11: dried out; "hard dry rolls left over from the day before"
adverb
1: with effort or force or vigor; "the team played hard"; "worked hard all day"; "pressed hard on the lever"; "hit the ball hard"; "slammed the door hard"
2: with firmness; "held hard to the railing" [syn: {firmly}]
3: earnestly or intently; "thought hard about it"; "stared hard at the accused"
4: causing great damage or hardship; "industries hit hard by the depression"; "she was severely affected by the bank's failure" [syn: {severely}]
5: slowly and with difficulty; "prejudices die hard"
6: indulging excessively; "he drank heavily" [syn: {heavily}, {intemperately}] [ant: {lightly}]
7: into a solid condition; "concrete that sets hard within a few hours"
8: very near or close in space or time; "it stands hard by the railroad tracks"; "they were hard on his heels"; "a strike followed hard upon the plant's opening"
9: with pain or distress or bitterness; "he took the rejection very hard"
10: to the full extent possible; all the way; "hard alee"; "the ship went hard astern"; "swung the wheel hard left" [also: {hardest}, {harder}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
686 Moby Thesaurus words for "hard": Herculean, Philistine, about, absolute, abstruse, accented, acerb, acerbic, acrid, acrimonious, actively, acute, adamant, adamantine, addictive, adverse, afflictive, agonizing, agonizingly, alcoholic, all but, almost, along toward, alveolar, amaroidal, anesthetic, angry, antagonistic, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, approximately, ardent, ardently, arduous, arduously, around, articulated, assiduous, assiduously, assimilated, astringent, at close quarters, at hand, atrocious, austere, avid, back, backbreaking, bad, badly, baffling, bankrupt, bare, barytone, bec et ongles, beefy, beyond one, bilabial, biting, bitter, bitter as gall, bleak, bloodless, blunt, bony, bothersome, bouncing, bowelless, brazen, broad, broke, brutal, brutish, bulky, burdensome, businesslike, busted, cacuminal, calamitous, calculating, callous, calloused, carefully, cartilaginous, case-hardened, cast-iron, caustic, cement, cemental, central, cerebral, checked, chewy, clear, close, close about, close at hand, close by, close-knit, close-textured, close-woven, coarse, cohesive, cold, cold of heart, coldblooded, coldhearted, compact, compacted, complex, complicated, compressed, concentrated, concrete, condensed, conditioning, conflicting, congested, conscienceless, conscientious, conscientiously, consolidated, consonant, consonantal, continuant, contrary, cool, coriaceous, corneous, counter, counteractive, crabbed, crammed, crammed full, cramp, cramping, critical, crowded, cruel, dark, deep, deeply, definite, delicate, demanding, dense, dental, despotic, determinedly, detrimental, devastating, devoted, devotedly, dictatorial, difficile, difficult, diligent, diligently, disastrous, dispassionate, dissimilated, distinct, distressing, distressingly, dog-eat-dog, dogged, doggedly, dorsal, doughty, dour, down-to-earth, dull, durable, dure, dynamically, eager, eagerly, earnestly, effortful, effortfully, enduring, energetic, energetically, enigmatic, exacting, excruciating, exhausting, factual, fast by, fatiguing, fervent, fibrous, firm, flat, flinthearted, flintlike, flinty, forceful, forcefully, forcible, forcibly, forcy, formidable, front, full-blooded, full-strength, fundamentalist, garbled, genuine, glide, glossal, glottal, gluey, gnawing, granitelike, granitic, grave, grievous, grim, grinding, griping, gristly, gutsy, guttural, gutty, habit-forming, habituating, hairy, hale, hammer and tongs, hard as nails, hard by, hard of heart, hard to understand, hard up, hard-bitten, hard-boiled, hard-core, hard-earned, hard-fought, hard-nosed, hard-set, hardened, hardheaded, hardhearted, hardworking, hardy, harmful, harrowing, harsh, harshly, heart and soul, heartily, heartless, hearty, heavy, hefty, hereabout, hereabouts, hidebound, high, horny, hostile, hurtful, hurting, husky, ill, immovable, immutable, impassible, impecunious, impenetrable, impenitent, impermeable, impervious, implacable, impliable, impoverished, impregnable, in opposition, in spitting distance, in the red, inclement, incomprehensible, incontestable, incontrovertible, indefatigable, indefatigably, indigent, indisputable, indurate, indurated, industrious, industriously, inelastic, ineluctable, inescapable, inexorable, inflexible, inhuman, inimical, inscrutable, insensate, insensitive, insolent, insoluble, intemperate, intense, intensely, intent, intently, intonated, intractable, intransigent, intricate, inured, involved, irksome, iron, iron-hard, ironbound, ironclad, ironhanded, ironlike, irreconcilable, jam-packed, jammed, jawbreaking, jumbled, keen, knotted, knotty, labial, labiodental, labiovelar, labored, laborious, laboriously, lapideous, lasting, lateral, lax, leatherlike, leathery, light, lingual, liquid, lithoid, lithoidal, lost to shame, low, lusty, magisterial, manfully, marble, marblelike, massive, matter-of-fact, mean, merciless, methodical, mid, mightily, mighty, miserable, monophthongal, most, much, muscle-bound, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, near, near at hand, nearabout, nearabouts, nearby, nervy, never idle, nigh, nigh about, no picnic, nonporous, not easy, not far, obdurate, obfuscated, obscure, obscured, obstinate, occlusive, onerous, only a step, open, operose, operosely, opposed, opposing, opposite, oppressive, orthodox, osseous, overtechnical, oxytone, pachydermatous, packed, painful, painfully, palatal, palatalized, paroxysmal, penetrating, penniless, perplexed, perplexing, perseveringly, persistent, persistently, petrified, pharyngeal, pharyngealized, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, physiologically addictive, piercing, pitch, pitched, pitiless, plain, poignant, poor, positive, posttonic, potent, poverty-stricken, powerful, practical, practically, pragmatic, procrustean, profound, proof against, psychologically addictive, puissant, pungent, purist, puristic, puritan, puritanic, puzzling, racking, real, realistic, red-blooded, relentless, relentlessly, remorseless, resistant, resistive, retroflex, rigid, rigorist, rigoristic, rigorous, robust, robustious, rock-ribbed, rockbound, rocklike, rocky, ropy, rough, rounded, rugged, ruthless, savage, scabrous, scrambled, searching, seared, sedulous, sedulously, semivowel, serious, serried, set, set with thorns, severe, severely, shameless, sharp, shooting, sinewy, sinister, slavish, sleepless, sober, soft, solid, solidified, sonant, sound, sour, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, spiny, spiritedly, spirituous, stabbing, stable, stalwart, stark, steadfastly, steady, steeled against, steellike, steely, steep, stern, sticky, stiff, stinging, stonelike, stony, stonyhearted, stopped, stout, straight, straightforward, straightlaced, straining, straitlaced, strapping, strenuous, strenuously, stressed, stressful, strict, stringent, stringy, strong, strong as brandy, strong as strong, strong-willed, stubborn, studiously, sturdy, substantial, surd, sure-enough, syllabic, systematic, tangled, tart, tenacious, tense, terrible, the hard way, thereabout, thereabouts, thick, thick-growing, thick-skinned, thickset, thorny, throaty, ticklish, tireless, tiring, toilsome, toilsomely, tonal, tonic, tooth and nail, tormenting, torturous, tough, tough as leather, tricky, troublesome, troublous, trying, twangy, tyrannical, unabject, unaccented, unaffected, unalterable, unavoidable, unbending, unblushing, unchangeable, uncompassionate, uncompassioned, uncompromising, uncontrite, undeniable, unemotional, unfalteringly, unfavorable, unfeeling, unflagging, unforgiving, unfriendly, ungentle, ungiving, unidealistic, unkind, unmelted, unmerciful, unmoved, unnatural, unpitiful, unpitying, unpleasant, unquestionable, unrelenting, unremitting, unremorseful, unrepentant, unrepenting, unresponsive, unrounded, unsentimental, unsleeping, unsoftened, unsolvable, unsparing, unstressed, unsympathetic, unsympathizing, untiring, untiringly, untouched, untoward, unvarnished, unwearied, unyielding, uphill, urgently, vehement, velar, verifiable, vigorous, vigorously, vinous, violently, viscid, viscose, viscous, vocalic, vocoid, voiced, voiceless, vowel, vowellike, weak, wearing, wearisome, wearying, well-built, well-constructed, well-defined, well-founded, well-grounded, well-made, well-nigh, wicked, wide, winy, wiry, with a kick, with a will, with effort, within call, within earshot, within hearing, within reach, without mercy, wretched, zealous, zealously
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