Defn: Hospitable. [Obs.]
HARD Hard, a. [Compar. Harder; superl. Hardest.] Etym: [OE. heard, AS. heard; akin to OS. & D. heard, G. hart, OHG. harti, Icel. har, Dan. haard, Sw. hård, Goth. hardus, Gr.,, strength, and also to E. -ard, as in coward, drunkard, -crat, -cracy in autocrat, democracy; cf. Skr. kratu strength, to do, make. Gf.Hardy.]
1. Not easily penetrated, cut, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; — applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.
2. Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem. The hard causes they brought unto Moses. Ex. xviii. 26. In which are some things hard to be understood. 2 Peter iii. 16.
3. Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.
4. Difficult to resist or control; powerful. The stag was too hard for the horse. L'Estrange. A power which will be always too hard for them. Addison.
5. Difficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms. I never could drive a hard bargain. Burke.
6. Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.
7. Not easy or agreeable to the taste; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style. Figures harder than even the marble itself. Dryden.
8. Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.