Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Hard Up |
Hard UpAdjective1. Not having enough money to pay for necessities. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Hard Up Short of money. "N'avoir pas de quibus. " "Up" often = out, as, "used up," "worn out," "done up," etc. "Hard up" = nearly out [of cash]. In these, and all similar examples, "Up" is the Old English ofer, over; Latin, s-uper; Greek. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: Hard UpSynonyms: impecunious (adj), in straitened circumstances (adj), in straitened circumstances(p) (adj), penniless (adj), penurious (adj), pinched (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Difficulty | Reduced to straits; hard pressed, sorely pressed; run hard; pinched, put to it, straitened; hard up, hard put to it, hard set; put to one's shifts; puzzled, at a loss; (uncertain); at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill; graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground; stuck fast, set fast; up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall; au bout de son Latin; out of one's depth; thrown out. |
Poverty | Adjective: poor, indigent; poverty-stricken; badly off, poorly off, ill off; poor as a rat, poor as a church mouse, poor as a Job; fortuneless, dowerless, moneyless, penniless; unportioned, unmoneyed; impecunious; out of money, out of cash, short of money, short of cash; without a rap, not worth a rap;(money); qui n'a pas le sou, out of pocket, hard up; out at elbows, out at heels; seedy, bare-footed; beggarly, beggared; destitute; fleeced, stripped; bereft, bereaved; reduced; homeless. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Hard Up |
| Specialty definitions using "hard up": H.U.. (references) |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | That God is hard up. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Expressions using "hard up": be hard up ♦ he was hard up. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
clease drive hard up | 87 |
backing drive hard up | 15 |
clean drive free hard up | 8 |
clean computer drive hard up | 2 |
college guy hard up | 2 |
hard up wake | 2 |
back disk hard up | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "hard up"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | me xhepin bosh, i ngushtë (acute, bigheaded, close, close-grained, incapacious, intimate, narrow, narrow minded, near, one track, one-ideaed, particularistic, petty, poky, provincial, small, small minded, Strait, tight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مفلس (bankrupt, broke, bust, busty, down at heel, impecunious, insolvent, kaput, penniless, punk, ruined, unowned), محروم جدا, عكاس (counter), عوز شديد, إباحية (permissiveness, porn, pornography). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | затруднен (catching, catchy, embarrassed, labored, laboured, snookered, straitened, troubled). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | v penìžní tísní. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | olla rahapulassa (be hard up, be pressed for money, be short of money), olla ahtaalla (be hard pressed be hard up, be in straits). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | fauché (hard). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | es geht ihm schlecht (he's badly off, he's hard up). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | "חוק (narrow, scarce, strained, tight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | le van égve (down and out, to be broke, to be broke to the world, to be hard pushed, to be hard up for money, to be on a shoestring, to be on the road, to be skint, to be stony broke). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | bisognoso di. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 乏しい (destitute, limited, meagre, poor, scanty, scarce). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | とぼしい (destitute, limited, meagre, poor, scanty, scarce), ともしい (destitute, limited, meagre, poor, scanty, scarce). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ardhay upay sãrac (barren, beggarly, destitute, empty, impecunious, in straitened circumstances, lean, low-lived, meager, meagre, mean, needful, needy, pauper, peeled, penniless, penurious, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, poor, poor man, poverty stricken, scanty, small, sterile, stingy, void), lefter (broke, moneyless, penniless). (various references) нуждающийся (impecunious, in need, indigent, necessitous, needy, penniless). (various references) napaljen. (various references) pelado (bald, bare, broke, hairless, shelling, skint), estar mal de dinero. (various references) vara i knipa (be hard up). (various references) zararına (at a loss, disadvantageous), muhtaç (beggarly, dependent, destitute, have a weak chest, in need, indigent, necessitous, needy, straitened, straitened for), eli dar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Hard Up" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Hardup. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: purdah. | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-h-p-r-u" | |
-1 letter: prahu, purda. | |
-2 letters: dura, hard, harp, pard, prau. | |
-3 letters: dah, dap, duh, dup, had, hap, hup, pad, pah, par, pud, pur, rad, rah, rap, urd. | |
-4 letters: ad, ah, ar, ha, pa, uh, up. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-h-p-r-u" | |
+1 letter: purdahs, uphoard. | |
+2 letters: uphoards. | |
+3 letters: harumphed, purchased, uphoarded, upreached. | |
+4 letters: harrumphed, parachuted, punchboard, unhampered, upgathered, uphoarding. | |
+5 letters: autographed, outpreached, punchboards, repurchased, superharden, superheated, thunderclap. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Quotations: Fiction | 5. Expressions 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Derivations | 9. Anagrams 10. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.