2. (old: now recognised).—1. Sour or souring; as in hard-cider; (2) hard drinks (American) = intoxicating liquors, as wine, ale, etc., while lemonade, soda-water, ginger-beer, etc., are soft.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hard drink, that is very Stale, or begining to Sower.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hard, stale beer nearly sour, is said to be hard.
1882. Daily Telegraph, 10 Oct., p. 5, c. 3. A fourth defendant, in pleading guilty, urged that the month of August last 'turned a lot of beer sour,' and that he had only used some sugar for the purpose of mollifying the hard or sour porter.
Hard as a Bone (Nails, etc.), adj. phr. (colloquial).—Very hard; austere; unyielding.
1885. Indoor Paupers, p. 79. He stood it for a week or two without flinching—being at that date hard as nails, as he expresses it.
Hard at it, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Very busy; in the thick of a piece of work.
To die hard, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To sell one's life dearly; e.g.., The die-hards (q.v.), the 59th Regiment, so called from their gallantry at Albuera.
To give hard for soft, verb, phr. (venery).—To copulate. See Greens.
To be Hard Hit. See Hard-hit.
[Hard, adj., is used in many combinations; generally with an unpleasant intention. Thus, hard-arsed (or fisted, or handed) = very niggardly; hard-bit (or hard-mouthful) = an unpleasant experience; hard-driven (or hard-run) = sore bested; hard-faced (or favoured, or featured) = grum, shrewish, or bony; hard-headed (or hard-witted) = shrewd and intelligent, but unimaginative and unsympathetic; hard-hearted = incapable of pity; hard-lipped = obstinate; dour hard-master = a nigger-driver; hard-nut
a dangerous antagonist; hard-on
pitiless in severity; hard-riding = selfish and reckless equestration; hard-service = the worst kind of employment; hard-wrought = overworked, etc., etc.]
Hard-a-weather, adj. (nautical).—Tough;
weather-proof.
1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 44. They were hard-a-weather fellows.
Hard-bake, subs. (schoolboys').—A
sweetmeat made of boiled
brown sugar or treacle with
blanched almonds.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I., 51. Hardbake, brandy-balls, and bull's-eyes.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ii. The commodities exposed for sale in the public streets are marine stores, hard-bake, apples, etc.
Hard-baked, adj. (old).—1. Constipated.
1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of Turf, s.v.
2. (common).—Stern; unflinching; strong.
1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 73. It's my opinion, these squirtish kind a fellars ain't perticular hard-baked.
Hard-bargain (or Case), subs.
(common).—1. A lazy fellow; a
bad-egg (q.v.); a skulker. One
of the Queen's Hard-bargains
= a bad soldier.
1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 71. La Bonté had lost all traces of civilised humanity, and might justly claim to be considered as hard a case as any of the mountaineers then present.
1888. Lynch, Mountain Mystery, ch. xliii. A fellow who comes and goes between here and Rockville, generally considered a hard case, and believed to be more outlaw than miner.
2. (trade).—A defaulting debtor.
3. (nautical).—A brutal mate or officer. Also hard-horse.
