1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 3. I call it ’ard lines, dear old man.
Hard-mouthed, adj. (colloquial).—Difficult to deal with; wilful; obstinate. Also coarse in speech. [From the stable.]
1686. Durfey, Commonw. of Wordes, i., 1. [Speaking of a girl.] I hate your young Wechees, Skitish Colts—they are so hard mouth’d, there’s no dealing with em.
1704. Swift, Tale of a Tub, Sect. ix. I myself, the author of these momentous truths, am a person, whose imaginations are hard-mouthed, and exceedingly disposed to run away with his reason.
1704. Swift, Operation of the Spirit, Sect. ii., par. 9. The flesh … when it comes to the turn of being bearer, is wonderfully headstrong and hard-mouthed.
Hard-neck, subs. (tailors’).—Brazen impudence, monumental cheek (q.v.). [[270]]
Hard-on, adj. phr. (venery).—Prick-proud. For synonyms, see Horn.
Hard-pan, subs. phr. (American).—The lowest point; bed-rock (q.v.).
1882. Besant, All Sorts and Conditions of Men, ch. xxi. And as for business, it’s got down to the hard pan, and dollars are skurce.
1861. Holmes, Elsie Venner, ch. viii. Mr. Silas Peckham had gone a little deeper than he meant, and came upon the hard pan, as the well-diggers call it, of the Colonel’s character, before he thought of it.