Hard-upness or Hard-uppishness, subs. (colloquial).—Poverty; a
condition of impoverishment.
1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack. There were frequent ...
collapses from death or hard-upness.
1883. Illust. London News, 26 May, p. 519, c. 3. These I O U’s ...
do not imply, as might be supposed, common hardupness.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 28. Ike’s knowledge of some of the
bookmakers he had met in the old land led him to believe that
hard-uppishness would scare any knight of the pencil away.
Hardware (or Hard), subs. (American).—Counterfeit coin.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Hardware-bloke, subs. (thieves’).—A native of Birmingham; a Brum
(q.v.).
Hardy-annual, subs. (Parliamentary).—A bill that is brought in every
year, but never passed into law. Hence (journalistic), any stock
subject.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Aug., p. 4, c. 2. Signs of the so called
‘silly season’ which has been somewhat delayed this year owing to
the political crisis, are now beginning to appear. The readers of
the Daily Telegraph are once more filling the columns of that
journal with ‘Is Marriage a Failure?’ The hardy annual is called
‘English Wives’ this time.
Hare, verb. (old).—To dodge; to double; to bewilder.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 92. Running, haring, gaping,
staring.
1672. Marvell, Rehearsal, Tr. (Grosart), iii, 372. They amaze,
shatter and hare their people.
To hare it, verb. phr. (American thieves’).—To retrace one’s steps; to
double back. [From the way of a hare with the hounds.]
To make a hare of, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To make ridiculous; to
expose the ignorance of any person.
1830–32. Carleton, Traits and Stories, ‘The Hedge-School.’ What a
hare that made of him ... and did not leave him a leg to stand on!
1844. Lever, Tom Burke of Ours, ii., 393. It was Mister Curran made
a hare of your Honor that day.
To swallow a hare, verb. phr. (old).—To get very drunk. For synonyms,
see Drinks and Screwed.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1725. New Cant. Dict. Hare, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. He has swallowed a hare, he is
drunk, more probably a hair which requires washing down.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
To hold with the hare and hunt with the hounds, verb. phr.
(colloquial).—To play a double game; to keep on good terms with two
conflicting parties.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
To kiss the hare’s foot, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be late; to be a
day after the fair; to kiss the post.
Hare-brained (or Hair-brained), adj. (old colloquial: now
recognised).—Reckless; flighty; impudent; skittish. Also,
substantively, hare-brain = a hare-brained person.
1534. N. Udal, Roister Doister, I., iv., p. 27 (Arber). Ah foolish
hare-braine, This is not she.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in Wks., ii., 53. A harebraind
little Dwarfe it is.
1621. Burton, Anat. of Mel., I., III., I., ii., 259 (1836). Yet
again, many of them, desperate hare-brains.
1622. Bacon, Henry VII. That same haire-braine wild fellow, my
subject.
1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xliii. When the government of
a nation depends upon the caprice of the ignorant, hair-brained
vulgar.
1870. Chambers’ Miscellany, No. 53, p. 28. The Slater girls are as
hare-brained as herself.
Hared, adj. (old).—Hurried.
Hare-sleep, subs. (old).—Sham slumber; foxes’ sleep (q.v.).
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hare-sleep, with Eies a’most
open.
Harking, subs. (old).—See quots.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Harking, whispering on one side
to borrow Money.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hark-ye-ing, whispering on one side
to borrow money.
Harlequin, subs. (theatrical).—1. A sovereign. For synonyms, see
Canary.