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more about harder
harder |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Hard \Hard\, a. [Compar. {Harder}; superl. {Hardest}.] [{OE}. heard, AS heard; akin to OS & D. heard, G. hart, OHG. harti, Icel. har?r, Dan. haard, Sw h[*a]rd, Goth. hardus, Gr.? strong, ?, ?, strength, and also to E. -ard, as in coward, drunkard, -crat, -cracy in autocrat, democracy; cf Skr. kratu strength, ? 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; 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 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} (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 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Harder \Har"der\, n. (Zo["o]l.) A South African mullet, salted for food.
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