hard-handed
Americanadjective
-
oppressive or tyrannical; stern or cruel.
-
having hands hardened by toil.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hard-handed
First recorded in 1580–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This is definitely the right way for the hard-handed Yorkshireman to play the spinner.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 29, 2015
They were out for 60 only partly due to the moving ball; it was mainly due to their testosterone-fuelled, front-foot, hard-handed attack frenzy.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2015
Two balls after Rutherford's dismissal Ross Taylor was caught at slip from a delivery on that same horribly in-between length, shaping away just enough to induce a hard-handed prod.
From The Guardian ● May 19, 2013
Although he is one of Italy's outstanding apostles of unfettered free enterprise, Einaudi has not hesitated to fight inflation with hard-handed governmental control where he thought it was needed.
From Time Magazine Archive
She could have left it at that: the fold under the earlobe, but that Violet, unsatisfied, fought with the hard-handed usher boys and was time enough for them, almost.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
