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

An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried. Bush harrow, a kind of light harrow made of bushes, for harrowing grass lands and covering seeds, or to finish the work of a toothed harrow. -- Drill harrow. See under 6th Drill. -- Under the harrow, subjected to actual torture with…

f to help him out. Swift. -- To help over, to enable to surmount; as, to help one over an obstacle. -- To help to, to supply with; to furnish with; as, to help one to soup. -- To help up, to help (one) to get up; to assist in rising, as after a fall, and the like. "A man is well holp up that trusts to you." Shak.…

capable of self-fertilization; -- said of hermaphrodite flowers in which some structural obstacle forbids autogamy.

To interpose obstacles or impediments; to be a hindrance. This objection hinders not but that the heroic action of some commander . . . may be written. Dryden.

A catch; anything that holds, as a hook; an impediment; an obstacle; an entanglement.

Check; hindrance; restraint; obstacle. The only holdback is the affection . . . that we bear to our wealth. Hammond.

f money, and the desire of promotion, are two powerful incentives to action. The greatest obstacles, the greatest terrors that come in their way, are so far from making them quit the work they had begun, that they rather prove incentives to them to go on in it. South.

being passed over, surmounted, or overcome; insuperable; as, insurmountable difficulty or obstacle. Locke. Hope thinks nothing difficult; despair tells us that difficulty is insurmountable. I. Watts.

One who, or that which, interposes or intervenes; an obstacle or interruption; a mediator or agent between parties. Shak.

g conquered, overcome, or subdued; unconquerable; insuperable; as, an invincible army, or obstacle. Lead forth to battle these my sons Invincible. Milton. -- In*vin"ci*ble*ness, n. -- In*vin"ci*bly, adv.

ing gear, esp. for an automobile, not affected by the road wheels, as when they strike an obstacle side ways, but easily controlled by the hand wheel or steering lever.

A retarding; hindrance; obstacle; impediment; delay; -- common in the phrase without let or hindrance, but elsewhere archaic. Keats. Consider whether your doings be to the let of your salvation or not. Latimer.

th thrown up by moles working under ground; hence, a very small hill, or an insignificant obstacle or difficulty. Having leapt over such mountains, lie down before a molehill. South.

A prohibition against proceeding further; an insuperable obstacle or limiting condition. [Obs. or R.]

before, against, reversely, etc.; also, as a simple intensive; as in oblige, to bind to; obstacle, something standing before; object, lit., to throw against; obovate, reversely, ovate. Ob- is commonly assimilated before c, f, g, and p, to oc-, of-, og-, and op-.

r may be, presented in opposition; an adverse reason or argument; a reason for objecting; obstacle; impediment; as, I have no objection to going; unreasonable objections. "Objections against every truth." Tyndale.

To block up; to stop up or close, as a way or passage; to place an obstacle in, or fill with obstacles or impediments that prevent or hinder passing; as, to obstruct a street; to obstruct the channels of the body. 'T is the obstructed paths of sound shall clear. Pope.

That which obstructs or impedes; an obstacle; an impediment; a hindrance. A popular assembly free from obstruction. Swift.

Tending to obstruct; presenting obstacles; hindering; causing impediment. -- Ob*struct"ive*ly, adv.