hardhack

American  

[hahrd-hak] / ˈhɑrdˌhæk /

noun

1. a woolly-leaved North American shrub, Spiraea tomentosa, of the rose family, having short, spikelike clusters of rose-colored flowers.

2. shrubby cinquefoil.

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hardhack British  

/ ˈhɑːdˌhæk /

noun

1. Also called: steeplebush.  a woody North American rosaceous plant, Spiraea tomentosa, with downy leaves and tapering clusters of small pink or white flowers

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Etymology

Origin of hardhack

An Americanism dating back to 1805–15; hard + hack ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hardhack

Now it is a veritable mixing pat for the autumn colors to come, yellow with goldenrod, blue with asters, purple with Joe-Pye weed, rosy because of the hardhack, and rimmed with delicate gray-white of thoroughwort.

From Old Plymouth Trails by Winthrop Packard

There were patches of black-eyed Susans in the meadows here and there, while pink and white hardhack grew by the road, with day lilies and blossoming milkweed.

From Story of Waitstill Baxter by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

To be given, in hardhack tea, as occasion may require.

From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by George Dadd

Should a diarrhœa attend the malady, give an occasional drink of hardhack tea.

From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by George Dadd

Once they drew their canoe up to the bank of Sunasquam Water, a stream walled in by the dense green of the hardhack.

From Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis