Harbinger, här′bin-jėr, n. a forerunner, pioneer, originally one who goes forward to provide lodging.—v.t. to precede, as a harbinger. [M. E. herbergeour. See Harbour.]
Harbour, här′bur, n. any refuge or shelter: a port for ships—obs. form Har′borough.—v.t. to lodge or entertain: to protect: to possess or indulge, as thoughts.—v.i. to take shelter.—n. Har′bourage, place of shelter: entertainment.—n.pl. Har′bour-dues, charges for the use of a harbour.—n. Har′bourer, one who harbours or entertains.—adj. Har′bourless.—n. Har′bour-mas′ter, the public officer who has charge of a harbour.—Harbour of refuge, a harbour constructed to give shelter to ships on some exposed coast: any protection for one in distress. [M. E. herberwe—an assumed A.S. herebeorg—here, army, beorg, protection; cf. Ger. herberge, Ice. herbergi.]
Hard, härd, adj. not easily penetrated, firm, solid: difficult to understand or accomplish: violent, vehement: rigorous: close, earnest, industrious: coarse, scanty: stingy, niggardly: difficult to bear, painful: unjust: difficult to please: unfeeling: severe: stiff: constrained: intractable, resistant in some use, as water, &c.: strong, spirituous: (of silk) without having the natural gum boiled off: surd or breathed, as opposed to sonant or voiced.—n. a firm beach or foreshore: hard labour.—adv. with urgency, vigour, &c.: earnestly, forcibly: with difficulty: close, near, as in Hard by.—adv. Hard-a-lee, close to the lee-side, &c.—adj. Hard′-and-fast′, rigidly laid down and adhered to.—adv. Hard aport! a command instructing the helmsman to turn the tiller to the left or port side of the ship, thus causing the ship to swerve to the right or starboard.—ns. Hard′-bake, a sweetmeat made of boiled sugar and almonds; Hard′beam, the hornbeam.—adjs. Hard′-billed, having a hard bill or beak—of birds; Hard′-bitt′en, given to hard biting, tough in fight; Hard′-cured, cured thoroughly, as fish, by drying in the sun.—n. Hard′-drink′er, a constant drunkard.—adj. Hard′-earned, earned with toil or difficulty.—v.t. Hard′en, to make hard or harder: to make firm: to strengthen: to confirm in wickedness: to make insensible.—v.i. to become hard or harder, either lit. or fig.—adj. Hard′ened, made hard, unfeeling.—n. Hard′ener.—adj. Hard′-fav′oured, having coarse features.—n. Hard′-fav′ouredness.—adj. Hard′-feat′ured, of hard, coarse, or forbidding features.—n. Hard′-feat′uredness.—adjs. Hard′-fist′ed, having hard or strong fists or hands: close-fisted: niggardly; Hard′-fought, sorely contested; Hard′-gott′en, obtained with difficulty; Hard′-grained, having a close firm grain: uninviting.—n. Hard′-hack, the steeple-bush, an erect shrub of the rose family, with rose-coloured or white flowers.—adjs. Hard′-hand′ed, having hard hands: rough: severe; Hard′-head′ed, shrewd, intelligent; Hard′-heart′ed, having a hard or unfeeling heart: cruel.—adv. Hard′-heart′edly.—n. Hard′-heart′edness.—adj. Hard′ish, somewhat hard.—n. Hard′-lā′bour, labour imposed on certain classes of criminals during their imprisonment.—adv. Hard′ly, with difficulty: scarcely, not quite: severely, harshly.—adj. Hard′-mouthed, having a mouth hard or insensible to the bit: not easily managed.—n. Hard′-pan, the hard detritus often underlying the superficial soil: the lowest level.—adjs. Hard′-ruled (Shak.), ruled with difficulty; Hard′-run, greatly pressed; Hard′-set, beset by difficulty: rigid; Hard′-shell, having a hard shell: rigidly orthodox.—ns. Hard′ship, a hard state, or that which is hard to bear, as toil, injury, &c.; Hard′-tack, ship-biscuit.—adj. Hard′-vis′aged, of a hard, coarse, or forbidding visage.—ns. Hard′ware, trade name for all sorts of articles made of the baser metals, such as iron or copper; Hard′wareman.—adj. Hard′-won, won with toil and difficulty.—n.pl. Hard′wood-trees, forest trees of comparatively slow growth, producing compact hard timber, as oak, ash, elm, walnut, beech, birch, &c.—Hard hit, seriously hurt, as by a loss of money: deeply smitten with love; Hard lines, a hard lot; Hard metal, an alloy of two parts of copper with one of tin for gun metal; Hard money, money emphatically, prop. coin; Hard of hearing, pretty deaf; Hard swearing, swearing (as a witness) persistently to what is false, perjury; Hard up, short of money.—Be hard put to it, to be in great straits or difficulty; Die hard, to die only after a desperate struggle for life. [A.S. heard; Dut. hard, Ger. hart, Goth. hardus; allied to Gr. kratys, strong.]
Hardock. See Harlock.
Hards, härdz, n.pl. also Hurds, coarse or refuse flax or hemp from which is made the coarse fabric Hard′en, Herd′en, Hurd′en.
Hardy, härd′i, adj. daring, brave, resolute: confident: impudent: able to bear cold, exposure, or fatigue.—ns. Hard′ihood, Hard′iness, Hard′iment (arch.).—adv. Hard′ily. [O. Fr. hardi—Old High Ger. hartjan, to make hard.]
Hare, hār, n. a common and very timid animal, with a divided upper lip and long hind-legs, which runs swiftly by leaps.—ns. Hare-and-hounds, a boys' game in which some set off on a long run across country, dropping pieces of paper (the scent) as they go, and others try to overtake, following their trail; Hare′bell, a plant with blue bell-shaped flowers.—adjs. Hare′-brained, giddy: heedless; Hare′-foot, swift of foot like a hare; Har′ish, somewhat like a hare.—n. Hare′-lip, a fissure in the upper human lip like that of a hare.—adj. Hare′-lipped.—n. Hare's′-ear, a genus of umbelliferous plants having yellow flowers.—First catch your hare, make sure you have a thing first before you think what to do with it—from a direction in Mrs Glasse's cookery-book, where catch, however, was a misprint for 'case'=skin; Hold with the hare and run with the hounds, to play a double and deceitful game, to be with both sides at once; Jugged hare, hare cut into pieces and stewed with wine and other seasoning; Mad as a March hare, from the gambols of the hare during the breeding season. [A.S. hara; Dut. haas, Dan. hare, Ger. hase.]
Hareld, har′eld, n. a genus of northern sea-ducks. [Norw. havella—hav, sea.]
Harem, hā′rem, n. the portion of a Mohammedan house allotted to females: the collection of wives and concubines belonging to one Mussulman. [Ar. haram, anything forbidden—harama, to forbid.]
Haricot, har′i-ko, -kot, n. a kind of ragout or stew of mutton and beans or other vegetables: the kidney-bean or French bean. [Fr. haricot.]