| English Dictionary |
HARD UP
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does hard up mean?
• HARD UP (adjective)
The adjective HARD UP has 1 sense:
1. not having enough money to pay for necessities
Familiarity information: HARD UP used as an adjective is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not having enough money to pay for necessities
Synonyms:
hard up; impecunious; in straitened circumstances; penniless; penurious; pinched
Similar:
poor (having little money or few possessions)
Context examples
And I put the helm hard up, and the HISPANIOLA swung round rapidly and ran stem on for the low, wooded shore.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Wolf Larsen put the wheel hard up, to port, and we began to pay off.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
He was so hard up he had to keep on wearing his uniform because he couldn't buy some regular clothes.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Even the water gets stale if it does not flow." (Albanian proverb)
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"You're correct, but the goat is mine." (Corsican proverb)