"hard word" meaning in English

See hard word in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: hard words [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} hard word (plural hard words)
  1. (now chiefly in the plural) An unkind word or comment; an insult. Tags: in-plural
    Sense id: en-hard_word-en-noun-u0glfX6L
  2. (literally) A word which is difficult to understand or spell. Tags: literally
    Sense id: en-hard_word-en-noun-4eyb1P6z
  3. (Ireland, Australia) A tip-off, or piece of inside information; a password. Tags: Australia, Ireland
    Sense id: en-hard_word-en-noun-mIu2~9rh Categories (other): Australian English, Irish English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 7 2 65 27
  4. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A persistent or rude request, especially for money. Tags: Australia, New-Zealand, UK, colloquial
    Sense id: en-hard_word-en-noun-eR2dlBBw Categories (other): Australian English, British English, New Zealand English

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for hard word meaning in English (3.4kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hard words",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "hard word (plural hard words)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1891, Bram Stoker, Snake's Pass",
          "text": "He would send the hard word round the country about me and my leman.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unkind word or comment; an insult."
      ],
      "id": "en-hard_word-en-noun-u0glfX6L",
      "links": [
        [
          "unkind",
          "unkind"
        ],
        [
          "insult",
          "insult"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now chiefly in the plural) An unkind word or comment; an insult."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "in-plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A word which is difficult to understand or spell."
      ],
      "id": "en-hard_word-en-noun-4eyb1P6z",
      "links": [
        [
          "understand",
          "understand"
        ],
        [
          "spell",
          "spell"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literally) A word which is difficult to understand or spell."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "literally"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Australian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Irish English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "7 2 65 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1834 [1830], William Carleton, “Shane Fadh's Wedding”, in Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, 3rd edition, Dublin: William Frederick Wakeman, pages 179–180",
          "text": "[…] but, I don't know how it was, I didn't at all feel comfortable with the priests; for you see I'd rather sport my day figure with the boys and girls upon the green: so I gives Jack the hard word,* and in we went, when, behold you, there was Father Corrigan planted upon the side of a Settle, Mary along with him, […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise",
          "text": "My Parsee […] assured me that if only he had the hard word about Linois's whereabouts, he and his associates would make lakh upon lakh of rupees.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A tip-off, or piece of inside information; a password."
      ],
      "id": "en-hard_word-en-noun-mIu2~9rh",
      "links": [
        [
          "tip-off",
          "tip-off"
        ],
        [
          "password",
          "password"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Ireland, Australia) A tip-off, or piece of inside information; a password."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "Ireland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Australian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "New Zealand English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Peter Robb, A Death in Brazil, Bloomsbury, published 2005, page 97",
          "text": "The other thing that happened in 1969 was that José put the hard word on his brother again. This time José wanted him to join his slate for the elections to the local leadership of the metalworkers' union.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 125",
          "text": "What do we do? We go and see them. Put the hard word on Glasgow's so-called hard men.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A persistent or rude request, especially for money."
      ],
      "id": "en-hard_word-en-noun-eR2dlBBw",
      "links": [
        [
          "persistent",
          "persistent"
        ],
        [
          "rude",
          "rude"
        ],
        [
          "request",
          "request"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A persistent or rude request, especially for money."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "New-Zealand",
        "UK",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "hard word"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hard words",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "hard word (plural hard words)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1891, Bram Stoker, Snake's Pass",
          "text": "He would send the hard word round the country about me and my leman.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unkind word or comment; an insult."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unkind",
          "unkind"
        ],
        [
          "insult",
          "insult"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now chiefly in the plural) An unkind word or comment; an insult."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "in-plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A word which is difficult to understand or spell."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "understand",
          "understand"
        ],
        [
          "spell",
          "spell"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literally) A word which is difficult to understand or spell."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "literally"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Australian English",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Irish English",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1834 [1830], William Carleton, “Shane Fadh's Wedding”, in Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, 3rd edition, Dublin: William Frederick Wakeman, pages 179–180",
          "text": "[…] but, I don't know how it was, I didn't at all feel comfortable with the priests; for you see I'd rather sport my day figure with the boys and girls upon the green: so I gives Jack the hard word,* and in we went, when, behold you, there was Father Corrigan planted upon the side of a Settle, Mary along with him, […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise",
          "text": "My Parsee […] assured me that if only he had the hard word about Linois's whereabouts, he and his associates would make lakh upon lakh of rupees.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A tip-off, or piece of inside information; a password."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tip-off",
          "tip-off"
        ],
        [
          "password",
          "password"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Ireland, Australia) A tip-off, or piece of inside information; a password."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "Ireland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Australian English",
        "British English",
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "New Zealand English",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Peter Robb, A Death in Brazil, Bloomsbury, published 2005, page 97",
          "text": "The other thing that happened in 1969 was that José put the hard word on his brother again. This time José wanted him to join his slate for the elections to the local leadership of the metalworkers' union.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 125",
          "text": "What do we do? We go and see them. Put the hard word on Glasgow's so-called hard men.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A persistent or rude request, especially for money."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "persistent",
          "persistent"
        ],
        [
          "rude",
          "rude"
        ],
        [
          "request",
          "request"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A persistent or rude request, especially for money."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "New-Zealand",
        "UK",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "hard word"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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