"hard yards" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "A sporting analogy referring to the game of rugby football, where making progress on the field, in measurements of yards, may lead to accomplishment and victory.\nAlternatively derived from sailing, when furling or unfurling the canvas from certain (perhaps higher) spars was both dangerous and difficult.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the hard yards",
      "tags": [
        "canonical",
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "def": "1",
        "head": "hard yards"
      },
      "expansion": "the hard yards pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Australian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Pluralia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with collocations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with collocations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Rugby",
          "orig": "en:Rugby",
          "parents": [
            "Ball games",
            "Sports",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "do the hard yards",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "put in the hard yards",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Ian Cocoran, The Art of Digital Branding, Allworth Press, pages 128–129",
          "text": "As with coupons and vouchers, there is seemingly no end to the opportunities that exist to improve a Web site's traffic flow by giving something away for nothing—as long as users are prepared to put in the hard yards, of course.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Kelly Doust, A Life in Frocks, Sydney: Murdoch Books, page 129",
          "text": "Those clever women at the frontier of fashion do all the hard yards for us, every month, by attending the shows in London, Paris and New York.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 August 22, Peter Lewis, “In a tough campaign the marriage equality team faces hard yards ahead”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "In tough conditions, with no room for complacency, the campaign will need to slog out the hard yards, give it 110% and leave it all on the field.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December, Jon Dale, “Dead Moon fever!”, in Uncut, →ISSN, page 8",
          "text": "The couple had already put in the hard yards: Fred started out in '60s freakbeat combos The Weeds and Lollipop Shoppe, with Toody joining him in early '80s punk trio The Rats.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The key effort in completing a difficult task."
      ],
      "id": "en-hard_yards-en-noun-5LhEK7if",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally Australia) The key effort in completing a difficult task."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "heavy lifting"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hard yards.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/88/En-au-hard_yards.ogg/En-au-hard_yards.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/En-au-hard_yards.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hard yards"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "A sporting analogy referring to the game of rugby football, where making progress on the field, in measurements of yards, may lead to accomplishment and victory.\nAlternatively derived from sailing, when furling or unfurling the canvas from certain (perhaps higher) spars was both dangerous and difficult.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the hard yards",
      "tags": [
        "canonical",
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "def": "1",
        "head": "hard yards"
      },
      "expansion": "the hard yards pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Australian English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English pluralia tantum",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with collocations",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Rugby"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "do the hard yards",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "put in the hard yards",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Ian Cocoran, The Art of Digital Branding, Allworth Press, pages 128–129",
          "text": "As with coupons and vouchers, there is seemingly no end to the opportunities that exist to improve a Web site's traffic flow by giving something away for nothing—as long as users are prepared to put in the hard yards, of course.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Kelly Doust, A Life in Frocks, Sydney: Murdoch Books, page 129",
          "text": "Those clever women at the frontier of fashion do all the hard yards for us, every month, by attending the shows in London, Paris and New York.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 August 22, Peter Lewis, “In a tough campaign the marriage equality team faces hard yards ahead”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "In tough conditions, with no room for complacency, the campaign will need to slog out the hard yards, give it 110% and leave it all on the field.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December, Jon Dale, “Dead Moon fever!”, in Uncut, →ISSN, page 8",
          "text": "The couple had already put in the hard yards: Fred started out in '60s freakbeat combos The Weeds and Lollipop Shoppe, with Toody joining him in early '80s punk trio The Rats.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The key effort in completing a difficult task."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally Australia) The key effort in completing a difficult task."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "heavy lifting"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hard yards.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/88/En-au-hard_yards.ogg/En-au-hard_yards.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/En-au-hard_yards.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hard yards"
}