HARD

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.

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.

Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.

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.

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.

Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.

Not easy or agreeable to the taste; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style. Figures harder than even the marble itself. Dryden.

Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.

Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.

Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.

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 (Zoöl.), the guahog. -- Hard coal, anthracite, as distinguished from bituminous or 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 (Zoöl.), 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.

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.

With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.

Uneasily; vexatiously; slowly. Shak.

So as to raise difficulties. " The guestion is hard set". Sir T. Browne.

With tension or strain of the powers; violently; with force; tempestuously; vehemently; vigorously; energetically; as, to press, to blow, to rain hard; hence, rapidly; as, to run hard.

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]

To harden; to make hard. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A ford or passage across a river or swamp.