Hardhard (härd),USA pronunciation adj., -er, -est, adv., -er, -est, n.
- not soft;
solid and firm to the touch;
unyielding to pressure and impenetrable or almost impenetrable.
- firmly formed;
tight: a hard knot.
- difficult to do or accomplish;
troublesome: a hard task.
- difficult or troublesome with respect to an action, situation, person, etc.: hard to please; a hard time.
- difficult to deal with, manage, control, overcome, or understand: a hard problem.
- involving a great deal of effort, energy, or persistence: hard labor; hard study.
- performing or carrying on work with great effort, energy, or persistence: a hard worker.
- vigorous or violent in force;
severe: a hard rain; a hard fall.
unbearable: hard luck.
rough: hard treatment.
severe: a hard winter; the hard times of the Great Depression.
- harsh or severe in dealing with others: a hard master.
- difficult to explain away;
undeniable: hard facts.
- that can be verified;
factual, as distinguished from speculation or hearsay: hard information.
- harsh or unfriendly;
bitter: hard feelings; hard words.
- of stern judgment or close examination;
searching: a hard look.
- lacking delicacy or softness;
not blurred or diffused;
clear and distinct;
harsh: a hard line; hard features; a hard face.
- (of a photograph) contrasty.
- severe or rigorous in terms: a hard bargain.
- sternly realistic;
unsentimental: a hard, practical man; a hard view of life.
tough: a hard character.
- [Scot. and North Eng.]niggardly;
- in coins or paper money as distinguished from checks, securities, promissory notes, or other negotiable instruments).
- (of paper money or a monetary system) supported by sufficient gold reserves and easily convertible into the currency of a foreign nation.
- (of money) scarce or available at high interest rates: a hard loan.
- denoting assets with intrinsic value, as gold, silver, or diamonds.
- (of alcoholic beverages)
- containing more than 22.5 percent alcohol by volume, as whiskey and brandy as opposed to beer and wine.
- strong because of fermentation;
intoxicating: hard cider.
- (of wine) tasting excessively of tannin.
- (of an illicit narcotic or drug) known to be physically addictive, as opium, morphine, or cocaine.
- (of water) containing mineral salts that interfere with the action of soap.
- (of bread and baked goods)
- having a firm, crisp crust or texture: hard rolls.
- stale or tough.
- (of a fabric) having relatively little nap;
smooth: Silk is a harder fabric than wool or cotton.
- (of the landing of a rocket or space vehicle) executed without decelerating: a hard landing on the moon.Cf. soft (def. 28).
- (of a missile base) equipped to launch missiles from underground silos.
- (of a missile) capable of being launched from an underground silo.
- [Mil.]being underground and strongly protected from nuclear bombardment.
- noting wheats with high gluten content, milled for a bread flour as contrasted with pastry flour.
- (of c and g) pronounced as (k) in come and (g) in go, rather than as in cent, cello, suspicion, gem, or beige.
- (of consonants in Slavic languages) not palatalized. Cf. soft (def. 26).
- (in the making of rope) noting a lay having a considerable angle to the axis of the rope;
- (of a beam of particles or photons) having relatively high energy: hard x-rays.Cf. soft (def. 29).
- (of the penis) erect.
- hard of hearing. See hearing-impaired.
- urgently in need of money.
- feeling a lack or need: The country is hard up for technicians and doctors.
- with great exertion;
with vigor or violence;
strenuously: to work hard; to try hard.
- earnestly, intently, or critically: to look hard at a thing.
- harshly or severely.
- so as to be solid, tight, or firm: frozen hard.
- with strong force or impact: She tripped and came down hard on her back.
- in a deeply affected manner;
with genuine sorrow or remorse: She took it very hard when they told her of his death.
immediately: Failure and defeat seemed hard at hand. The decision to ban students from the concerts followed hard on the heels of the riot.
- to an unreasonable or extreme degree;
immoderately: He's hitting the bottle pretty hard.
- closely, fully, or to the extreme limit: hard aport; hard alee.
- be hard on, to deal harshly with;
be stern: You are being too hard on him.
- hard by, in close proximity to;
near: The house is hard by the river.
- hard put, in great perplexity or difficulty;
at a loss: We were hard put to finish the examination in one hour.
- a firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.
- a firm or solid beach or foreshore.
- a firm landing, jetty, or road across or adjoining the foreshore.
- Often, plastics. any of a group of synthetic or natural organic materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened, including many types of resins, resinoids, polymers, cellulose derivatives, casein materials, and proteins: used in place of other materials, as glass, wood, and metals, in construction and decoration, for making many articles, as coatings, and, drawn into filaments, for weaving. They are often known by trademark names, as Bakelite, Vinylite, or Lucite.
- a credit card, or credit cards collectively, usually made of plastic: He had a whole pocketful of plastic.
- money, payment, or credit represented by the use of a credit card or cards.
- something, or a group of things, made of or resembling plastic: The entire meal was served on plastic.
plas′ti•cal•ly, plas′tic•ly, adv.
- made of plastic.
- capable of being molded or of receiving form: clay and other plastic substances.
- produced by molding: plastic figures.
- having the power of molding or shaping formless or yielding material: the plastic forces of nature.
- being able to create, esp. within an art form;
having the power to give form or formal expression: the plastic imagination of great poets and composers.
- concerned with or pertaining to molding or modeling;
- relating to three-dimensional form or space, esp. on a two-dimensional surface.
- pertaining to the tools or techniques of drawing, painting, or sculpture: the plastic means.
- characterized by an emphasis on formal structure: plastic requirements of a picture.
impressionable: the plastic mind of youth.
- giving the impression of being made of or furnished with plastic: We stayed at one of those plastic motels.
- artificial or insincere;
phony: jeans made of cotton, not some plastic substitute; a plastic smile.
- lacking in depth, individuality, or permanence;
superficial, dehumanized, or mass-produced: a plastic society interested only in material acquisition.
- of or pertaining to the use of credit cards: plastic credit; plastic money.
- concerned with or pertaining to the remedying or restoring of malformed, injured, or lost parts: a plastic operation.
Floorfloor (flôr, flōr),USA pronunciation n.
- that part of a room, hallway, or the like, that forms its lower enclosing surface and upon which one walks.
- a continuous, supporting surface extending horizontally throughout a building, having a number of rooms, apartments, or the like, and constituting one level or stage in the structure;
- a level, supporting surface in any structure: the elevator floor.
- one of two or more layers of material composing a floor: rough floor; finish floor.
- a platform or prepared level area for a particular use: a threshing floor.
- the bottom of any more or less hollow place: the floor of a tunnel.
- a more or less flat extent of surface: the floor of the ocean.
- the part of a legislative chamber, meeting room, etc., where the members sit, and from which they speak.
- the area of a floor, as in a factory or retail store, where items are actually made or sold, as opposed to offices, supply areas, etc.: There are only two salesclerks on the floor.
- the main part of a stock or commodity exchange or the like, as distinguished from the galleries, platform, etc.
- the bottom, base, or minimum charged, demanded, or paid: The government avoided establishing a price or wage floor.
- an underlying stratum, as of ore, usually flat.
- the lowermost member of a frame in a wooden vessel.
- mop or wipe the floor with, [Informal.]to overwhelm completely;
defeat: He expected to mop the floor with his opponents.
- take the floor, to arise to address a meeting.
- to cover or furnish with a floor.
- to bring down to the floor or ground;
knock down: He floored his opponent with one blow.
- to overwhelm;
- to confound or puzzle;
nonplus: I was floored by the problem.
- Also, floorboard. to push (a foot-operated accelerator pedal) all the way down to the floor of a vehicle, for maximum speed or power.
Matmat1 (mat),USA pronunciation n., v., mat•ted, mat•ting.
- a piece of fabric made of plaited or woven rushes, straw, hemp, or similar fiber, or of some other pliant material, as rubber, used as a protective covering on a floor or other surface, to wipe the shoes on, etc.
- a smaller piece of material, often ornamental, set under a dish of food, a lamp, vase, etc.
- the padded canvas covering the entire floor of a wrestling ring, for protecting the contestants from injury when thrown.
- a thick pad placed on the floor for the protection of tumblers and others engaged in gymnastic sports.
- a thickly growing or thick and tangled mass, as of hair or weeds.
- a sack made of matting, as for coffee or sugar.
- a slablike footing of concrete, esp. one for an entire building.
- a heavy mesh reinforcement for a concrete slab.
- go to the mat, to contend or struggle in a determined or unyielding way: The President is going to the mat with Congress over the proposed budget cuts.
- to cover with or as if with mats or matting.
- to form into a mat, as by interweaving.
- to become entangled;
form tangled masses.