Part 713

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 (Zoˆl.), the quahog. -- 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 (Zoˆl.), 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.

Hard, adv. [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.