hard-and-fast

[ hahrd-n-fast, -fahst ]

adjective

1. strongly binding; not to be set aside or violated:

   hard-and-fast rules.

   Synonyms: unambiguous, rigorous, inviolable, inflexible, precise, fixed

hard and fast

adjective

1. hard-and-fast when prenominal (esp of rules) invariable or strict

Other Words From

• hard-and-fastness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hard-and-fast¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Idioms and Phrases

Defined, fixed, invariable, as in We have hard and fast rules for this procedure . This term originally was applied to a vessel that has come out of water, either by running aground or being put in dry dock, and is therefore unable to move. By the mid-1800s it was being used figuratively.

Example Sentences

At the least, there must be hard-and-fast laws about insider trading, right?

From The Daily Beast

Following his hard-and-fast rule, Mr. Norcross didn't deny himself to anybody.

From Project Gutenberg

He saw in painting a sort of abstract geometry for which there existed hard-and-fast forms.

From Project Gutenberg

Your hard-and-fast scientific men—your Spencers and Huxleys—they don't understand that.

From Project Gutenberg

A physician, for example, deliberately avoids such hard-and-fast alternatives as have been postulated in our instance.

From Project Gutenberg

But he never takes it as a hard-and-fast principle which must at all costs be imposed upon the facts.

From Project Gutenberg