hard
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: enpr: häd
ipa: /hɑːd/
enpr: härd
ipa: /hɑɹd/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d
Forms: form: harder
form: hardest
Etymology: From Middle English hard, from Old English heard, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kort-ús, from *kret- (“strong, powerful”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola hard (“hard”), West Frisian hurd (“hard”), Alemannic German hert (“hard”), Bavarian hoat (“hard”), Central Franconian haat (“hard”), Dutch hard (“hard”), German hart (“hard”), Luxembourgish haart (“hard”), Danish, Swedish hård (“hard”), Faroese, Icelandic harður (“hard”), Norwegian Bokmål hard (“hard”), Norwegian Nynorsk hard, hard’u (“hard”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌿𐍃 (hardus, “hard”), Ancient Greek κρατύς (kratús, “strong, mighty”), Sanskrit क्रतु (krátu, “power, might, ability”), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬀𐬙𐬎 (xratu).
Senses: examples: text: He hit the puck hard up the ice.
text: They worked hard all week.
text: The recession hit them especially hard.
text: Think hard about your choices.
text: The couple were fucking each other hard.
text: Be nought diſmayd that her vnmoued mind, / doth ſtill perſiſt in her rebellious pride: / ſuch loue not lyke to luſts of baſer kynd, / the harder vvonne, the firmer vvill abide.
ref: 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet VI”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, signature A4, verso:
text: […] My father / Is hard at study. Pray now, rest yourself; […]
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: prayed so hard for mercy from the prince
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Wife of Bath's Tale”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: I played hard, I drank hard, I rode hard, and did everything much on the same pattern.
ref: 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 164:
text: What, then, of the voluntarist's sense that one often has to think long and hard before making agonizing choices?
ref: 1985, Michael A. Arbib, In search of the person: philosophical explorations in cognitive science, page 119:
topics: manner
glosses: With much force or effort.
examples: text: His degree was hard earned.
topics: manner
glosses: With difficulty.
examples: text: The question is hard set.
ref: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
glosses: So as to raise difficulties.
examples: text: The lake had finally frozen hard.
topics: manner
glosses: Compactly.
examples: text: At the intersection, bear hard left.
text: The King your brother is now hard at hand, / Meete with the foole, and rid your royall ſhoulders / Of ſuch a burden, as outweighs the ſands / And all the craggie rockes of Caſpea.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:
text: […]whose house joined hard to the synagogue.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 18:7:
text: It was another long day's march before they glimpsed the towers of Harrenhal in the distance, hard beside the blue waters of the lake.
ref: 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 418:
glosses: Near, close.
Derived terms: blowhard
cry harder
die hard
go hard in the paint
go hard on
go hard with
hard aport
hard astarboard
hard at it
hard-baked
hard-bitten
hard-bound
hard by
hard-coded
hard-contested
hard done by
hard-drawn
hard drinker
hard-drinking
hard-driven
hard-earned
hard-fought
hard-gained
hard-got
hard-gotten
hard-hit
hard-hitting
hard on
hard upon
hard on one's heels
hard on the heels
hardover
hard-pressed
hard-pushed
hard-wearing
hard-wired
hard-won
hard-working
ride hard
ride hard and put away wet
ride someone hard and put them away wet
run hard