hard stop

American  

[hahrd stop] / ˈhɑrd ˈstɒp /

noun

1. a complete, often abrupt stop.

   An average garbage truck does about a thousand stops a day—and they're hard stops, triggering the ABS.

   Whenever I make a hard stop on the court in these shoes, I come close to rolling an ankle.

2. a definite, firm, usually immediate end to something.

   Oil industry leaders pressed for more action on pipelines and a hard stop to renewable energy tax credits.

3. a nonnegotiable time at which someone must end an activity because of another engagement.

   I know some of you have a hard stop at 4:00 for another meeting, so I will keep my remarks brief.

4. a mechanism or machine part that causes the movement of another part, or of the whole machine, to stop completely and abruptly.

   When you press the lever you should feel it bottom out against a hard stop, leaving it at a right angle to the hub axle.

5. Stock Exchange. a selected stock price point programmed by a trader to generate an automatic order to sell or to close a trade, as opposed to the trader making this decision on the spot.

   I always use a hard stop, because otherwise a fast market can result in a much larger loss than planned.

6. the act, by armed law enforcement officers, of compelling the driver of a vehicle containing suspects to stop.

   When his taxi was subjected to a hard stop by armed officers, he jumped out to discard a gun.

7. Computers. a forced shutdown, as by turning off the power.

   If you hold the power button down for 10 seconds, you'll get a hard stop, but don't do it unless the computer won't turn off otherwise.

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Etymology

Origin of hard stop

First recorded in 1885–90; 2000–05 hard stop for def. 7

Example Sentences

He added: "It's going to be a hard stop; the end of a life. There is also uncertainty about what happens next."

From BBC

This way of life will have a hard stop when there is a power cut.

From The Wall Street Journal

One tram "made a hard stop, I saw black debris, heard the passengers on that tram screaming…the driver rushed to open the gates to the entrance of the tram," she told the BBC.

From BBC

During the ride Tuesday, the bus made a sudden hard stop when it detected a car on the opposite side of the intersection, surprising Zuniga and the other passengers.

From Los Angeles Times

Millennials are fundamentally reimagining retirement by rejecting the traditional model of working continuously for decades before taking a hard stop.

From Salon