hard-set

American  

[hahrd-set] / ˈhɑrdˈsɛt /

adjective

1. firmly or rigidly set; fixed.

   a hard-set smile.

2. in a difficult position.

   The troops were hard-set before their supplies came.

3. determined; obstinate.

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Etymology

Origin of hard-set

1400–50; late Middle English harde set

Example Sentences

Several store owners said they’re worried Little Saigon is morphing into a new “Third and Pine” — by which they mean a chronic drug abuse zone, with hard-set patterns of drug-dealing, shoplifting and human despair.

From Seattle Times

“If a guy is responding really, really well, we owe it to them and to ourselves to respond with them. And if he’s not, then maybe we have to pull back. But I know there’s not hard-set numbers on any of them.”

From Washington Post

Psaki downplayed any hard-set deadline Friday and said the administration continues to talk to lawmakers from both parties.

From Seattle Times

Guys with calloused hands and hard-set jaws, massed there at the bar in the Rickshaw, a mob hangout with a pagoda on the roof, across from the racetrack in Cherry Hill, N.J.

From Washington Post

None of the world’s troubles seem to have escaped her heavy-lidded gaze, and nary a flicker of a smile warms her hard-set features.

From Los Angeles Times