hard case

¹

noun

1. a rough, hard-bitten person.

hard-case

²

[hahrd-keys]

adjective

1. rough and hard-bitten.

   hard-case juvenile delinquents.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hard case¹

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Origin of hard case²

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Kieron Moore’s Slovacek is the hard case who is in the Corps to avoid prison.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“Don’t take all the blame on yourself, she’s a very difficult person, a very hard case.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“This is not a hard case, it does not require the amount of delay that we’ve had. The case is pretty simple… a guy stole some documents, he hid them, when the government came and looked for them, he lied and hid them,” he continued.

Read more on Salon

The chief judge of the 5th Circuit, Priscilla Richman, wrote the majority opinion and basically just quoted big chunks of the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision to show that this is not a hard case.

Read more on Slate

“Given the nature of what happened here, the use of a search function to look at tweets, I think that’s a hard case to make,” Quinn said.

Read more on Seattle Times