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hard put

   Also found in: Idioms, Encyclopedia 0.02 sec.
hard  (härd)
adj. hard·er, hard·est
1. Resistant to pressure; not readily penetrated.
2.
a. Physically toughened; rugged.
b. Mentally toughened; strong-minded.
3.
a. Requiring great effort or endurance: a hard assignment.
b. Performed with or marked by great diligence or energy: a project that required years of hard work.
c. Difficult to resolve, accomplish, or finish: That was a hard question.
d. Difficult to understand or impart: Physics was the hardest of my courses. Thermodynamics is a hard course to teach.
4.
a. Intense in force or degree: a hard blow.
b. Inclement: a long, hard winter.
5.
a. Stern or strict in nature or comportment: a hard taskmaster.
b. Resistant to persuasion or appeal; obdurate.
c. Making few concessions: drives a hard bargain.
6.
a. Difficult to endure: a hard life.
b. Oppressive or unjust in nature or effect: restrictions that were hard on welfare applicants.
c. Lacking compassion or sympathy; callous.
7.
a. Harsh or severe in effect or intention: said some hard things that I won't forget.
b. Bitter; resentful: No hard feelings, I hope.
8.
a. Causing damage or premature wear: Snow and ice are hard on a car's finish.
b. Bad; adverse: hard luck.
9. Proceeding or performing with force, vigor, or persistence; assiduous: a hard worker.
10.
a. Real and unassailable: hard evidence.
b. Definite; firm: a hard commitment.
c. Close; penetrating: We need to take a hard look at the situation.
d. Free from illusion or bias; practical: brought some hard common sense to the discussion.
e. Using or based on data that are readily quantified or verified: the hard sciences.
11.
a. Marked by sharp outline or definition; stark.
b. Lacking in delicacy, shading, or nuance.
12. Hard-core.
13. Being a turn in a specific direction at an angle more acute than other possible routes.
14.
a. Metallic, as opposed to paper. Used of currency.
b. Backed by bullion rather than by credit. Used of currency.
c. High and stable. Used of prices.
15.
a. Durable; lasting: hard merchandise.
b. Written or printed rather than stored in electronic media: sent the information by hard mail.
16. Erect; tumid. Used of a penis.
17.
a. Having high alcoholic content; intoxicating: hard liquor.
b. Rendered alcoholic by fermentation; fermented: hard cider.
18. Containing dissolved salts that interfere with the lathering action of soap. Used of water.
19. Linguistics Velar, as in c in cake or g in log, as opposed to palatal or soft.
20. Physics Of relatively high energy; penetrating: hard x-rays.
21. High in gluten content: hard wheat.
22. Chemistry Resistant to biodegradation: a hard detergent.
23. Physically addictive. Used of certain illegal drugs, such as heroin.
24. Resistant to blast, heat, or radiation. Used especially of nuclear weapons.
adv.
1. With strenuous effort; intently: worked hard all day; stared hard at the accused criminal.
2. With great force, vigor, or energy: pressed hard on the lever.
3. In such a way as to cause great damage or hardship: industrial cities hit hard by unemployment.
4. With great distress, grief, or bitterness: took the divorce hard.
5. Firmly; securely: held hard to the railing.
6. Toward or into a solid condition: concrete that sets hard within a day.
7. Near in space or time; close: The factory stands hard by the railroad tracks.
8. Nautical Completely; fully: hard alee.
Idioms:
hard and fast
Defined, fixed, and invariable: hard and fast rules.
hard of hearing
1. Having a partial loss of hearing.
2. One who has a partial loss of hearing.
hard put
Undergoing great difficulty: Under the circumstances, he was hard put to explain himself.
hard up Informal
In need; poor.
[Middle English, from Old English heard; see kar- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: hard, difficult, arduous
These adjectives mean requiring great physical or mental effort to do, achieve, or master. Hard is the most general term: "You write with ease to show your breeding,/But easy writing's curst hard reading" (Richard Brinsley Sheridan).
Difficult and hard are interchangeable in many instances. Difficult, however, is often preferable where the need for skill or ingenuity is implied: "All poetry is difficult to read,/The sense of it is, anyhow" (Robert Browning).
Arduous applies to burdensome labor or sustained physical or spiritual effort: "knowledge at which [Isaac] Newton arrived through arduous and circuitous paths" (Thomas Macaulay).
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.hard put - facing or experiencing financial trouble or difficulty; "distressed companies need loans and technical advice"; "financially hard-pressed Mexican hotels are lowering their prices"; "we were hard put to meet the mortgage payment"; "found themselves in a bad way financially"
distressed, hard-pressed, in a bad way
troubled - characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need; "troubled areas"; "fell into a troubled sleep"; "a troubled expression"; "troubled teenagers"


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
The landlady, who governed herself with much difficulty, began now the necessary preparations; for as to Susan, she was utterly rejected, and with such disdain, that the poor wench was as hard put to it to restrain her hands from violence as her mistress had been to hold her tongue.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Fielding, Henry View in context
When a woman debauched from her youth, nay, even being the offspring of debauchery and vice, comes to give an account of all her vicious practices, and even to descend to the particular occasions and circumstances by which she ran through in threescore years, an author must be hard put to it wrap it up so clean as not to give room, especially for vicious readers, to turn it to his disadvantage.
The Fortunes & Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Defoe, Daniel View in context
The simplest abstraction was practically beyond our thinking; and when one did happen to think one, he was hard put to communicate it to his fellows.
Before Adam by London, Jack View in context
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